Related papers: Jumping Jupiter can explain Mercury's orbit
The formation of the solar system's giant planets predated the ultimate epoch of massive impacts that concluded the process of terrestrial planet formation. Following their formation, the giant planets' orbits evolved through an episode of…
Instabilities and strong dynamical interactions between multiple giant planets have been proposed as a possible explanation for the surprising orbital properties of extrasolar planetary systems. In particular, dynamical instabilities seem…
The primordial structure of Jupiter remains uncertain, yet it holds vital clues on the planet's formation and early evolution. Recent work used dynamical constraints from Jupiter's inner moons to determine its primordial state, thereby…
Stellar spin-orbit misalignments (obliquities) in hot Jupiter systems have been extensively probed. Such obliquities may reveal clues about hot Jupiter dynamical histories. Common explanations for generating obliquities include…
The observed population of Hot Jupiters displays a stunning variety of physical properties, including a wide range of densities and core sizes for a given planetary mass. Motivated by the observational sample, this paper studies the…
The extremely close proximity of hot Jupiters to their parent stars has dramatically affected both their atmospheres and interiors, inflating them to up to twice the radius of Jupiter. The physical mechanism responsible for this inflation…
The physical shape of a giant planet can reveal important information about its centrifugal potential, and therefore, its rotation. In this paper I investigate the response of Jupiter's shape to differential rotation on cylinders of various…
Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities, whereas stars with multiple co-planar planets have been seen to have low obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that hot-Jupiter formation is linked to…
In a recent paper we proposed that the giant planets' primordial orbits may have been eccentric (~0.05), and used a suite of dynamical simulations to show outcomes of the giant planet instability that are consistent with their present-day…
The distribution of eccentricities of warm giant exoplanets is commonly explained through planet--planet interactions, although no physically sound argument favours the ubiquity of such interactions. No simple, generic explanation has been…
Compact multi-planet systems containing super-Earths or sub-Neptunes, commonly found around solar-type stars, may be surrounded by external giant planet or stellar companions, which can shape the architechture and observability of the inner…
In the study of planetary habitability and terrestrial atmospheric evolution, the divergence of surface conditions for Venus and Earth remains an area of active research. Among the intrinsic and external influences on the Venusian climate…
Numerical hydrodynamics calculations are performed to determine conditions under which giant planet eccentricities can be excited by parent gas disks. Unlike in other studies, Jupiter-mass planets are found to have their eccentricities…
In the coming decades, the discovery of the first truly Earth-like exoplanets is anticipated. The characterisation of those planets will play a vital role in determining which are chosen as targets for the search for life beyond the Solar…
The origin of warm Jupiters (gas giant planets with periods between 10 and 200 days) is an open question in exoplanet formation and evolution. We investigate a particular migration theory in which a warm Jupiter is coupled to a perturbing…
Mercury is entrapped in a 3:2 resonance: it rotates on its axis three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun. It is generally accepted that this is due to the large value of the eccentricity of its orbit. However, the…
Many of the unusual properties of Pluto's orbit are widely accepted as evidence for the orbital migration of the giant planets in early solar system history. However, some properties remain an enigma. Pluto's long term orbital stability is…
The Juno mission has revolutionized and challenged our understanding of Jupiter. As Juno transitioned to its extended mission, we review the major findings of Jupiter's internal structure relevant to understanding Jupiter's formation and…
Most warm Jupiters (gas-giant planets with $0.1~{\rm AU}\lesssim a \lesssim1$ AU) have pericenter distances that are too large for significant orbital migration by tidal friction. We study the possibility that the warm Jupiters are…
Kozai-Lidov oscillations of Jupiter-mass planets, excited by comparable planetary or brown dwarf mass perturbers were recently shown in numerical experiments to be slowly modulated and to exhibit striking features, including extremely high…