Related papers: Planets: Power Laws and Classification
If we want to understand planetesimal formation, the only data set we have is our own Solar System. It is particularly interesting as it is so far the only planetary system we know of that developed life. Understanding the conditions under…
We examine the accretion of cores of giant planets from planetesimals, gas accretion onto the cores, and their orbital migration. We adopt a working model for nascent protostellar disks with a wide variety of surface density distributions…
We investigate the migration of massive extrasolar planets due to gravitational interaction with a viscous protoplanetary disc. We show that a model in which planets form at 5 AU at a constant rate, before migrating, leads to a predicted…
Several small dense exoplanets are now known, inviting comparisons to Earth and Venus. Such comparisons require translating their masses and sizes to composition models of evolved multi-layer-interior planets. Such theoretical models rely…
We follow the microlensing approach and quantify the occurrence of Kepler exoplanets as a function of planet-to-star mass ratio, q, rather than planet radius or mass. For planets with radii ~1-6 R_earth and periods <100 days, we find that,…
Planets are common objects in the Universe, observationally as well as theoretically. However, the standard theory of their formation encounters many difficulties, such as dust fall and disk lifetime problems. We positively analyze them,…
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…
When pressure is not negligible in comparison with energy density, the external gravitational field and the motion of particles in it are modified. For spherically symmetric body two effective mass parameters determine the external…
Using current technology, gravitational microlensing is the only method that can measure planet masses over the full parameter space of planet and stellar-host masses and at a broad range of planet-host separations. I present a…
The relationship between stars and planets provides important information for understanding the interior composition, mineralogy, and overall classification of small planets (R $\lesssim$ 3.5R$_{\oplus}$). Since stars and planets are formed…
The efficiency of planet formation is a fundamental question in planetary science, gaining increasing significance as observational data from planet-forming disks accumulates. Here we derive from first principles a correlation between the…
The observed mass function for all known extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) varies approximately as M^{-1} for mass M between 0.2 Jupiter masses (M_J) and 5 M_J. In order to study evaporation effects for highly-irradiated EGPs in this mass…
Groups and clusters of galaxies occupy a special position in the hierarchy of large-scale cosmic structures because they are the largest and the most massive (from ~10^13 Msun to over 10^15 Msun) objects in the universe that have had time…
A planet orbiting in a disk of planetesimals can experience an instability in which it migrates to smaller orbital radii. Resonant interactions between the planet and planetesimals remove angular momentum from the planetesimals, increasing…
The rotation rates in the deep interior and at the surface of 22 main-sequence stars with masses between $1.0$ and $1.6\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ are constrained by combining asteroseismological analysis with spectroscopic measurements. The…
Despite the increase in observational data on exoplanets, the processes that lead to the formation of planets are still not well understood. But thanks to the high number of known exoplanets, it is now possible to look at them as a…
This paper constructs a theoretical framework for calculating the distribution of masses for secondary bodies forming via gravitational instability in the outer regions of circumstellar disks. We show that several alternate ways to specify…
Intrinsic magnetic fields have long been thought to shield planets from atmospheric erosion via stellar winds; however, the influence of the plasma environment on atmospheric escape is complex. Here we study the influence of a weak…
In the presence of the gravitational field, the energy density of matter no longer coincides with its mass density. A discrepancy exists, of course, also between the associated power spectra. Within the $\Lambda$CDM model, we derive a…
Terrestrial-like exoplanets may obtain atmospheres from three primary sources: Capture of nebular gases, degassing during accretion, and degassing from subsequent tectonic activity. Here we model degassing during accretion to estimate the…