On the Fundamental Mass-Period Functions of Extrasolar Planets

Abstract

Employing a catalog of 175 extrasolar planets (exoplanets) detected by the Doppler-shift method, we constructed the independent and coupled mass-period functions. It is the first time in this field that the selection effect is considered in the coupled mass-period functions. Our results are consistent with those in Tabachnik and Tremaine (2002) with the major differences that we obtain a flatter mass function but a steeper period function. Moreover, our coupled mass-period functions show that about 2.5 percent of stars would have a planet with mass between Earth Mass and Neptune Mass, and about 3 percent of stars would have a planet with mass between Neptune Mass and Jupiter Mass.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Supplement Series in Nov. 2009, Acknowledgment added in Dec. 2009, a Reference-Based Catalog of Exoplanets can be obtained electronically from Appendix A of the latex file or from the authors for further studies