3,220 research outputs found
Dynamical Origin of Extrasolar Planet Eccentricity Distribution
We explore the possibility that the observed eccentricity distribution of
extrasolar planets arose through planet-planet interactions, after the initial
stage of planet formation was complete. Our results are based on ~3250
numerical integrations of ensembles of randomly constructed planetary systems,
each lasting 100 Myr. We find that for a remarkably wide range of initial
conditions the eccentricity distributions of dynamically active planetary
systems relax towards a common final equilibrium distribution, well described
by the fitting formula dn ~ e exp[-1/2 (e/0.3)^2] de. This distribution agrees
well with the observed eccentricity distribution for e > 0.2, but predicts too
few planets at lower eccentricities, even when we exclude planets subject to
tidal circularization. These findings suggest that a period of large-scale
dynamical instability has occurred in a significant fraction of newly formed
planetary systems, lasting 1--2 orders of magnitude longer than the ~1 Myr
interval in which gas-giant planets are assembled. This mechanism predicts no
(or weak) correlations between semimajor axis, eccentricity, inclination, and
mass in dynamically relaxed planetary systems. An additional observational
consequence of dynamical relaxation is a significant population of planets
(>10%) that are highly inclined (>25deg) with respect to the initial symmetry
plane of the protoplanetary disk; this population may be detectable in
transiting planets through the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, conclusions updated to reflect the current
observational constraint
Formation of Hot Planets by a combination of planet scattering, tidal circularization, and Kozai mechanism
We have investigated the formation of close-in extrasolar giant planets
through a coupling effect of mutual scattering, Kozai mechanism, and tidal
circularization, by orbital integrations. We have carried out orbital
integrations of three planets with Jupiter-mass, directly including the effect
of tidal circularization. We have found that in about 30% runs close-in planets
are formed, which is much higher than suggested by previous studies. We have
found that Kozai mechanism by outer planets is responsible for the formation of
close-in planets. During the three-planet orbital crossing, the Kozai
excitation is repeated and the eccentricity is often increased secularly to
values close enough to unity for tidal circularization to transform the inner
planet to a close-in planet. Since a moderate eccentricity can remain for the
close-in planet, this mechanism may account for the observed close-in planets
with moderate eccentricities and without nearby secondary planets. Since these
planets also remain a broad range of orbital inclinations (even retrograde
ones), the contribution of this process would be clarified by more observations
of Rossiter-McLaughlin effects for transiting planets.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
The Prograde Orbit of Exoplanet TrES-2b
We monitored the Doppler shift of the G0V star TrES-2 throughout a transit of
its giant planet. The anomalous Doppler shift due to stellar rotation (the
Rossiter-McLaughlin effect) is discernible in the data, with a signal-to-noise
ratio of 2.9, even though the star is a slow rotator. By modeling this effect
we find that the planet's trajectory across the face of the star is tilted by
-9 +/- 12 degrees relative to the projected stellar equator. With 98%
confidence, the orbit is prograde.Comment: ApJ, in press [15 pages
Analytic Description of the Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect for Transiting Exoplanets: Cross-Correlation Method and Comparison with Simulated Data
We obtain analytical expressions for the velocity anomaly due to the
Rossiter- McLaughlin effect, for the case when the anomalous radial velocity is
obtained by cross-correlation with a stellar template spectrum. In the limit of
vanishing width of the stellar absorption lines, our result reduces to the
formula derived by Ohta et al. (2005), which is based on the first moment of
distorted stellar lines. Our new formula contains a term dependent on the
stellar linewidth, which becomes important when rotational line broadening is
appreciable. We generate mock transit spectra for four existing exoplanetary
systems (HD17156, TrES-2, TrES- 4, and HD209458) following the procedure of
Winn et al. (2005), and find that the new formula is in better agreement with
the velocity anomaly extracted from the mock data. Thus, our result provides a
more reliable analytical description of the velocity anomaly due to the
Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, and explains the previously observed dependence of
the velocity anomaly on the stellar rotation velocity.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, Astrophysical Journal in pres
Sodium Absorption From the Exoplanetary Atmosphere of HD189733b Detected in the Optical Transmission Spectrum
We present the first ground-based detection of sodium absorption in the
transmission spectrum of an extrasolar planet. Absorption due to the atmosphere
of the extrasolar planet HD189733b is detected in both lines of the NaI
doublet. High spectral resolution observations were taken of eleven transits
with the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) on the 9.2 meter Hobby-Eberly
Telescope (HET). The NaI absorption in the transmission spectrum due to
HD189733b is (-67.2 +/- 20.7) x 10^-5 deeper in the ``narrow'' spectral band
that encompasses both lines relative to adjacent bands. The 1-sigma error
includes both random and systematic errors, and the detection is >3-sigma. This
amount of relative absorption in NaI for HD189733b is ~3x larger than detected
for HD209458b by Charbonneau et al. (2002), and indicates these two
hot-Jupiters may have significantly different atmospheric properties.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Spin-Orbit Alignment of the TrES-4 Transiting Planetary System and Possible Additional Radial Velocity Variation
We report new radial velocities of the TrES-4 transiting planetary system,
including observations of a full transit, with the High Dispersion Spectrograph
of the Subaru 8.2m telescope. Modeling of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect
indicates that TrES-4b has closely aligned orbital and stellar spin axes, with
. The close spin-orbit alignment angle
of TrES-4b seems to argue against a migration history involving planet-planet
scattering or Kozai cycles, although there are two nearby faint stars that
could be binary companion candidates. Comparison of our out-of-transit data
from 4 different runs suggest that the star exhibits radial velocity
variability of 20 ms^-1 in excess of a single Keplerian orbit. Although
the cause of the excess radial velocity variability is unknown, we discuss
various possibilities including systematic measurement errors, starspots or
other intrinsic motions, and additional companions besides the transiting
planet.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, PASJ in pres
Measurements of Stellar Inclinations for Kepler Planet Candidates II: Candidate Spin-Orbit Misalignments in Single and Multiple-Transiting Systems
We present a test for spin-orbit alignment for the host stars of 25 candidate
planetary systems detected by the {\it Kepler} spacecraft. The inclination
angle of each star's rotation axis was estimated from its rotation period,
rotational line broadening, and radius. The rotation periods were determined
using the {\it Kepler} photometric time series. The rotational line broadening
was determined from high-resolution optical spectra with Subaru/HDS. Those same
spectra were used to determine the star's photospheric parameters (effective
temperature, surface gravity, metallicity) which were then interpreted with
stellar-evolutionary models to determine stellar radii. We combine the new
sample with the 7 stars from our previous work on this subject, finding that
the stars show a statistical tendency to have inclinations near 90, in
alignment with the planetary orbits. Possible spin-orbit misalignments are seen
in several systems, including three multiple-planet systems (KOI-304, 988,
2261). Ideally these systems should be scrutinized with complementary
techniques---such as the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, starspot-crossing
anomalies or asteroseismology---but the measurements will be difficult owing to
the relatively faint apparent magnitudes and small transit signals in these
systems.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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