Maximum likelihood method for estimating the mass and period distributions of extra-solar planets
Astrophysics
2008-11-26 v2
Abstract
We investigate the distribution of mass M and orbital period P of extra-solar planets, taking account of selection effects due to the limited velocity precision and duration of existing surveys. We fit the data on 63 planets to a power-law distribution of the form dn=CM^{-alpha}P^{-beta}(dM/M)(dP/P), and find alpha=0.12+-0.10, beta=-0.26+-0.06 for M<10M_J, where M_J is the Jupiter mass. The correlation coefficient between these two exponents is -0.32, indicating that uncertainties in the two distributions are coupled. We estimate that 3% of solar-type stars have companions in the range 1M_J<M<10M_J, 2d<P<10yr.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0107482,
title = {Maximum likelihood method for estimating the mass and period distributions of extra-solar planets},
author = {Serge Tabachnik and Scott Tremaine},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0107482},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
18 pages, 5 figures, replaced with revised version