No Arabic abstract
Recent imaging campaigns indicate the likely existence of massive planets (~ 1-10 MJ) on ~1000 year orbits about a few percent of stars. Such objects are not easily explained in most current planet formation models. In this Letter we use ensembles of 100 N-body simulations to evaluate the potential for planet scattering during relaxation of dynamically active systems to explain the population of giant planets with projected separations up to a few 100 AU. We find that such a mechanism could indeed be at play, and that statistical samples of long period planets could place interesting constraints on early stage planet formation scenarios. Results from direct imaging and microlensing surveys are complementary probes of this dynamical relaxation process.
We re-examine the statistical confirmation of small long-period Kepler planet candidates in light of recent improvements in our understanding of the occurrence of systematic false alarms in this regime. Using the final Data Release 25 (DR25) Kepler planet candidate catalog statistics, we find that the previously confirmed single planet system Kepler-452b no longer achieves a 99% confidence in the planetary hypothesis and is not considered statistically validated in agreement with the finding of Mullally et al. (2018). For multiple planet systems, we find that the planet prior enhancement for belonging to a multiple planet system is suppressed relative to previous Kepler catalogs, and we identify the multi-planet system member, Kepler-186f, no longer achieves a 99% confidence in the planetary hypothesis. Because of the numerous confounding factors in the data analysis process that leads to the detection and characterization of a signal, it is difficult to determine whether any one planetary candidate achieves a strict criterion for confirmation relative to systematic false alarms. For instance, when taking into account a simplified model of processing variations, the additional single planet systems Kepler-443b, Kepler-441b, Kepler-1633b, Kepler-1178b, and Kepler-1653b have a non-negligible probability of falling below a 99% confidence in the planetary hypothesis. The systematic false alarm hypothesis must be taken into account when employing statistical validation techniques in order to confirm planet candidates that approach the detection threshold of a survey. We encourage those performing transit searches of K2, TESS, and other similar data sets to quantify their systematic false alarms rates. Alternatively, independent photometric detection of the transit signal or radial velocity measurements can eliminate the false alarm hypothesis.
Following the suggestion of Black (1997) that some massive extrasolar planets may be associated with the tail of the distribution of stellar companions, we investigate a scenario in which 5 < N < 100 planetary mass objects are assumed to form rapidly through a fragmentation process occuring in a disc or protostellar envelope on a scale of 100 au. These are assumed to have formed rapidly enough through gravitational instability or fragmentation that their orbits can undergo dynamical relaxation on a timescale of about 100 orbits. Under a wide range of initial conditions and assumptions the relaxation process ends with either (i) one potential hot Jupiter plus up to two external companions, i.e. planets orbiting near the outer edge of the initial distribution; (ii) one or two external planets or even none at all; (iii) one planet on an orbit with a semi--major axis 10 to a 100 times smaller than the outer boundary radius of the inital distribution together with an external companion. Most of the other objects are ejected and could contribute to a population of free floating planets. Apart from the potential hot Jupiters, all the bound objects are on highly eccentric orbits. We found that, apart from the close orbiters, the probability of ending up with a planet orbiting at a given distance from the central star increases with the distance. This is because of the tendency of the relaxation process to lead to collisions with the central star. We discuss the application of these results to some of the more massive extrasolar planets.
During their formation, emerging protoplanets tidally interact with their natal disks. Proto-gas-giant planets, with Hills radius larger than the disk thickness, open gaps and quench gas flow in the vicinity of their orbits. It is usually assumed that their type II migration is coupled to the viscous evolution of the disk. Although this hypothesis provides an explanation for the origin of close-in planets, it also encounter predicament on the retention of long-period orbits for most gas giant planets. Moreover, numerical simulations indicate that planets migrations are not solely determined by the viscous diffusion of their natal disk. Here we carry out a series of hydrodynamic simulations combined with analytic studies to examine the transition between different paradigms of type II migration. We find a range of planetary mass for which gas continues to flow through a severely depleted gap so that the surface density distribution in the disk region beyond the gap is maintained in a quasi-steady state. The associated gap profile modifies the location of corotation & Lindblad resonances. In the proximity of the planets orbit, high-order Lindblad & corotation torque are weakened by the gas depletion in the gap while low-order Lindblad torques near the gap walls preserves their magnitude. Consequently, the intrinsic surface density distribution of the disk determines delicately both pace and direction of planets type II migration. We show that this effect might stall the inward migration of giant planets and preserve them in disk regions where the surface density is steep.
Most planetary discoveries with the K2 and TESS missions are restricted to short periods because of the limited duration of observation. However, the re-observation of sky area allows for the detection of longer period planets. We describe new transits detected in six candidate planetary systems which were observed by multiple K2 mission campaigns. One of these systems is a multiplanet system with four candidate planets; we present new period constraints for two planets in this system. In the other five systems, only one transit is observed in each campaign, and we derive period constraints from this new data. The period distributions are highly multimodal resulting from missed potential transits in the gap between observations. Each peak in the distribution corresponds to transits at an integer harmonic of the two observed transits. We further detail a generalized procedure to constrain the period for planets with multiple observations with intervening gaps. Because long period photometrically discovered planets are rare, these systems are interesting targets for follow-up observations and confirmation. Specifically, all six systems are bright enough (V = 10.4-12.7) to be amenable to radial velocity follow-up. This work serves as a template for period constraints in a host of similar yet-to-be-discovered planets in long baseline, temporally gapped observations conducted by the TESS mission.
We report the detection of five Jovian mass planets orbiting high metallicity stars. Four of these stars were first observed as part of the N2K program and exhibited low RMS velocity scatter after three consecutive observations. However, follow-up observations over the last three years now reveal the presence of longer period planets with orbital periods ranging from 21 days to a few years. HD 11506 is a G0V star with a planet of msini = 4.74 mjup in a 3.85 year orbit. HD 17156 is a G0V star with a 3.12 mjup planet in a 21.2 day orbit. The eccentricity of this orbit is 0.67, one of the highest known for a planet with a relatively short period. The orbital period for this planet places it in a region of parameter space where relatively few planets have been detected. HD 125612 is a G3V star with a planet of msini = 3.5 mjup in a 1.4 year orbit. HD 170469 is a G5IV star with a planet of msini = 0.67 mjup in a 3.13 year orbit. HD 231701 is an F8V star with planet of 1.08 mjup in a 142 day orbit. All of these stars have supersolar metallicity. Three of the five stars were observed photometrically but showed no evidence of brightness variability. A transit search conducted for HD 17156 was negative but covered only 25% of the search space and so is not conclusive.