English

Impact of Stellar Dynamics on the Frequency of Giant Planets in Close Binaries

Astrophysics 2008-11-26 v2

Abstract

Hostile tidal forces may inhibit the formation of Jovian planets in binaries with semimajor axes of \la\la50\au50\au, binaries that might be called ``close'' in this context. As an alternative to in situ planet formation, a binary can acquire a giant planet when one of its original members is replaced in a dynamical interaction with another star that hosts a planet. Simple scaling relations for the structure and evolution of star clusters, coupled with analytic arguments regarding binary-single and binary-binary scattering, indicate that dynamical processes can deposit Jovian planets in <<1% of close binaries. If ongoing and future exoplanet surveys measure a much larger fraction, it may be that giant planets do somehow form frequently in such systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0606645,
  title  = {Impact of Stellar Dynamics on the Frequency of Giant Planets in Close Binaries},
  author = {Eric Pfahl and Matthew Muterspaugh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0606645},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

4 pages; Accepted by ApJ, minor changes from original