No Arabic abstract
We determine the orbital eccentricities of individual small Kepler planets, through a combination of asteroseismology and transit light-curve analysis. We are able to constrain the eccentricities of 51 systems with a single transiting planet, which supplement our previous measurements of 66 planets in multi-planet systems. Through a Bayesian hierarchical analysis, we find evidence that systems with only one detected transiting planet have a different eccentricity distribution than systems with multiple detected transiting planets. The eccentricity distribution of the single-transiting systems is well described by the positive half of a zero-mean Gaussian distribution with a dispersion $sigma_e = 0.32 pm 0.06$, while the multiple-transit systems are consistent with $sigma_e = 0.083^{+0.015}_{-0.020}$. A mixture model suggests a fraction of $0.76^{+0.21}_{-0.12}$ of single-transiting systems have a moderate eccentricity, represented by a Rayleigh distribution that peaks at $0.26^{+0.04}_{-0.06}$. This finding may reflect differences in the formation pathways of systems with different numbers of transiting planets. We investigate the possibility that eccentricities are self-excited in closely packed planetary systems, as well as the influence of long-period giant companion planets. We find that both mechanisms can qualitatively explain the observations. We do not find any evidence for a correlation between eccentricity and stellar metallicity, as has been seen for giant planets. Neither do we find any evidence that orbital eccentricity is linked to the detection of a companion star. Along with this paper we make available all of the parameters and uncertainties in the eccentricity distributions, as well as the properties of individual systems, for use in future studies.
We explore planetary migration scenarios for formation of high inclination Neptune Trojans (NTs) and how they are affected by the planetary migration of Neptune and Uranus. If Neptune and Uranuss eccentricity and inclination were damped during planetary migration, then their eccentricities and inclinations were higher prior and during migration than their current values. Using test particle integrations we study the stability of primordial NTs, objects that were initially Trojans with Neptune prior to migration. We also study Trans-Neptunian objects captured into resonance with Neptune and becoming NTs during planet migration. We find that most primordial NTs were unstable and lost if eccentricity and inclination damping took place during planetary migration. With damping, secular resonances with Neptune can increase a low eccentricity and inclination population of Trans-Neptunian objects increasing the probability that they are captured into 1:1 resonance with Neptune, becoming high inclination NTs. We suggest that the resonant trapping scenario is a promising and more effective mechanism explaining the origin of NTs that is particularly effective if Uranus and Neptune experienced eccentricity and inclination damping during planetary migration.
We present precise radial velocities of XO-2 taken with the Subaru HDS, covering two transits of XO-2b with an interval of nearly two years. The data suggest that the orbital eccentricity of XO-2b is consistent with zero within 2$sigma$ ($e=0.045pm0.024$) and the orbit of XO-2b is prograde (the sky-projected spin-orbit alignment angle $lambda=10^{circ}pm72^{circ}$). The poor constraint of $lambda$ is due to a small impact parameter (the orbital inclination of XO-2b is almost 90$^{circ}$). The data also provide an improved estimate of the mass of XO-2b as $0.62pm0.02$ $M_{rm Jup}$. We also find a long-term radial velocity variation in this system. Further radial velocity measurements are necessary to specify the cause of this additional variation.
HIP 65426 b is a recently discovered exoplanet imaged during the course of the SPHERE-SHINE survey. Here we present new $L$ and $M$ observations of the planet from the NACO instrument at the VLT from the NACO-ISPY survey, as well as a new $Y-H$ spectrum and $K$-band photometry from SPHERE-SHINE. Using these data, we confirm the nature of the companion as a warm, dusty planet with a mid-L spectral type. From comparison of its SED with the BT-Settl atmospheric models, we derive a best-fit effective temperature of $T_{text{eff}}=1618pm7$ K, surface gravity $log g=3.78^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ and radius $R=1.17pm0.04$ $R_{text{J}}$ (statistical uncertainties only). Using the DUSTY and COND isochrones we estimate a mass of $8pm1$ $M_{text{J}}$. Combining the astrometric measurements from our new datasets and from the literature, we show the first indications of orbital motion of the companion (2.6$sigma$ significance) and derive preliminary orbital constraints. We find a highly inclined orbit ($i=107^{+13}_{-10}$ deg) with an orbital period of $800^{+1200}_{-400}$ yr. We also report SPHERE sparse aperture masking observations that investigate the possibility that HIP 65426 b was scattered onto its current orbit by an additional companion at a smaller orbital separation. From this data we rule out the presence of brown dwarf companions with masses greater than 16 $M_{text{J}}$ at separations larger than 3 AU, significantly narrowing the parameter space for such a companion.
During the process of planet formation, the planet-discs interactions might excite (or damp) the orbital eccentricity of the planet. In this paper, we present two long ($tsim 3times 10^5$ orbits) numerical simulations: (a) one (with a relatively light disc, $M_{rm d}/M_{rm p}=0.2$) where the eccentricity initially stalls before growing at later times and (b) one (with a more massive disc, $M_{rm d}/M_{rm p}=0.65$) with fast growth and a late decrease of the eccentricity. We recover the well-known result that a more massive disc promotes a faster initial growth of the planet eccentricity. However, at late times the planet eccentricity decreases in the massive disc case, but increases in the light disc case. Both simulations show periodic eccentricity oscillations superimposed on a growing/decreasing trend and a rapid transition between fast and slow pericentre precession. The peculiar and contrasting evolution of the eccentricity of both planet and disc in the two simulations can be understood by invoking a simple toy model where the disc is treated as a second point-like gravitating body, subject to secular planet-planet interaction and eccentricity pumping/damping provided by the disc. We show how the counterintuitive result that the more massive simulation produces a lower planet eccentricity at late times can be understood in terms of the different ratios of the disc-to-planet angular momentum in the two simulations. In our interpretation, at late times the planet eccentricity can increase more in low-mass discs rather than in high-mass discs, contrary to previous claims in the literature.
CoRoT-9b is one of the rare long-period (P=95.3 days) transiting giant planets with a measured mass known to date. We present a new analysis of the CoRoT-9 system based on five years of radial-velocity (RV) monitoring with HARPS and three new space-based transits observed with CoRoT and Spitzer. Combining our new data with already published measurements we redetermine the CoRoT-9 system parameters and find good agreement with the published values. We uncover a higher significance for the small but non-zero eccentricity of CoRoT-9b ($e=0.133^{+0.042}_{-0.037}$) and find no evidence for additional planets in the system. We use simulations of planet-planet scattering to show that the eccentricity of CoRoT-9b may have been generated by an instability in which a $sim 50~M_oplus$ planet was ejected from the system. This scattering would not have produced a spin-orbit misalignment, so we predict that CoRoT-9b orbit should lie within a few degrees of the initial plane of the protoplanetary disk. As a consequence, any significant stellar obliquity would indicate that the disk was primordially tilted.