Related papers: Ultra-short-period planets from secular chaos
As gas giant planets evolve, they may scatter other planets far from their original orbits to produce hot Jupiters or rogue planets that are not gravitationally bound to any star. Here, we consider planets cast out to large orbital…
With 16-month Kepler data, 14 long-period (40 d - 265 d) eclipsing binaries on highly eccentric orbits (minimum e between 0.5 and 0.85) are recognized from their closely separated primary and secondary eclipses (\Delta t_I,II = 3 d - 10 d).…
The Kepler mission has recently discovered a number of exoplanetary systems, such as Kepler-11 and Kepler-32, in which ensembles of several planets are found in very closely packed orbits (often within a few percent of an AU of one…
With the availability of considerably more data, we revisit the question of how special our Solar System is, compared to observed exoplanetary systems. To this goal, we employ a mathematical transformation that allows for a meaningful,…
Many of the multi-planet systems discovered to date have been notable for their compactness, with neighbouring planets closer together than any in the Solar System. Interestingly, planet-hosting stars have a wide range of ages, suggesting…
The extrasolar planets (EPs) so far detected are very different to the planets in our own Solar System. Many of them have Jupiter-like masses and close-in orbits (the so-called hot planets, HPs), with orbital periods of only a few days. In…
The field of exoplanetary science has experienced a recent surge of new systems that is largely due to the precision photometry provided by the Kepler mission. The latest discoveries have included compact planetary systems in which the…
We investigate the distributions of the orbital period ratios of adjacent planets in high multiplicity \kepler\ systems (four or more planets) and low multiplicity systems (two planets). Modeling the low multiplicity sample as essentially…
Warm giant planets with orbital periods of tens of days exhibit a positive correlation between mass and eccentricity. We interpret this trend as the outcome of planet-planet scattering, representing a transition from collision-dominated…
At least 10-15% of nearby sun-like stars have known Jupiter-mass planets. In contrast, very few planets are found in mature open and globular clusters such as the Hyades and 47 Tuc. We explore here the possibility that this dichotomy is due…
Most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy reside in gravitationally-bound pairs of stars called "binary stars". While long anticipated, the existence of a "circumbinary planet" orbiting such a pair of normal stars was not definitively established…
We infer the period ($P$) and size ($R_p$) distribution of Kepler transiting planet candidates with $R_p\ge 1 R_{\rm Earth}$ and $P < 250$ days hosted by solar-type stars. The planet detection efficiency is computed by using measured noise…
While the vast majority of multiple-planet systems have their orbital angular momentum axes aligned with the spin axis of their host star, Kepler-56 is an exception: its two transiting planets are coplanar yet misaligned by at least 40…
Some theories of planet formation and evolution predict that intermediate-mass stars host more hot Jupiters than Sun-like stars, others reach the conclusion that such objects are very rare. By determining the frequencies of those planets we…
The Kepler mission is dramatically increasing the number of planets known in multi-planetary systems. Many adjacent planets have orbital period ratios near resonant values, with a tendency to be larger than required for exact first-order…
Previous studies showed evidence of a dearth of close-in exoplanets around fast rotators, which can be explained by the combined action of intense tidal and magnetic interactions between planets and their host star. Detecting more…
Using the cumulative catalog of planets detected by the NASA Kepler mission, we reconstruct the intrinsic occurrence of Earth- to Neptune-size (1 - 4$R_{\oplus}$) planets and their distributions with radius and orbital period. We analyze…
Sub-Neptunes around FGKM dwarfs are evenly distributed in log orbital period down to $\sim$10 days, but dwindle in number at shorter periods. Both the break at $\sim$10 days and the slope of the occurrence rate down to $\sim$1 day can be…
For much of human history we have wondered how our solar system formed, and whether there are any other planets like ours around other stars. Only in the last 20 years have we had direct evidence for the existence of exoplanets, with the…
The sizes of small planets have been known to be bi-modal, with a gap separating planets that have lost their primordial atmospheres (super-Earths), and the ones that retain them (mini-Neptunes). Here, we report evidences for another…