Related papers: Long-term instability of the inner Solar System: n…
The existence of chaos in the system of Jovian planets has been in question for the past 15 years. Various investigators have found Lyapunov times ranging from about 5 millions years upwards to infinity, with no clear reason for the…
Recent analyses of Kepler space telescope data reveal that transiting planets with orbital periods shorter than about 2-3 days are generally observed around late-type stars with rotation periods longer than about 5-10 days. We investigate…
We examine the effects that dynamical instability has on shaping the orbital properties of exoplanetary systems. Using N-body simulations of non-EMS (Equal Mutual Separation), multi-planet systems we find that the lower limit of the…
Deviations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) from Parker's model are frequently observed in the heliosphere at different distances r from the Sun. Usually, it is supposed that the IMF behavior corresponds to Parker's model overall,…
The discovery of multi-planet extrasolar systems has kindled interest in using their orbital evolution as a probe of planet formation. Accurate descriptions of planetary orbits identify systems which could hide additional planets or be in a…
We have studied planetary systems which are similar to the Solar System and built up from three inner rocky planets (Venus, Earth, Mars) and two outer gas giants. The stability of the orbits of the inner planets is discussed in the cases of…
Recent observations reveal the surprising breakdown of stellar gyrochronology relations at about the Sun's age hinting that middle-aged, solar-like stars transition to a magnetically inactive future. We provide a theoretical basis for these…
As a direct result of ongoing efforts to detect more exoplanetary systems, an ever-increasing number of multiple-planet systems are being announced. But how many of these systems are truly what they seem? In many cases, such systems are…
Solar activity is a process driven by many independent but interconnected phenomena. Although the 11-year cycle is the result of operation of the dynamo mechanism, the cause of longer secular variations is not clear. In search of such a…
This paper explores the stability of an Earth-like planet orbiting a solar mass star in the presence of an outer-lying intermediate mass companion. The overall goal is to estimate the fraction of binary systems that allow Earth-like planets…
We study the orbital architecture of multi-planet systems detected by the Kepler transit mission using N-body simulations, focusing on the orbital spacing between adjacent planets in systems showing four or more transiting planets. We find…
We show that stability of planetary systems is intimately connected with their internal order. An arbitrary initial distribution of planets is susceptible to catastrophic events in which planets either collide or are ejected from the…
Planetary systems can evolve dynamically even after the planets themselves have fully formed, and there is circumstantial evidence that most planetary systems become unstable after the disappearance of the gaseous protoplanetary disk.…
We perform numerical simulations to study the secular orbital evolution and dynamical structure in the quintuplet planetary system 55 Cancri with the self-consistent orbital solutions by Fischer and coworkers (2008). In the simulations, we…
Many dynamical aspects of the solar system can be explained by the outer planets experiencing a period of orbital instability sometimes called the Nice Model. Though often correlated with a perceived delayed spike in the lunar cratering…
We investigate the long time stability of the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus system by considering the planar, secular model. Our method may be considered as an extension of Lagrange's theory for the secular motions. Indeed, concerning the…
A restricted planar circular three-body system, consisting of the Sun and two planets, is studied as a simple model for a planetary system. The mass of the inner planet is considered to be larger and the system is assumed to be moving in a…
Recent years have seen an increased interest in the question of whether the gravitational action of planets could have an influence on the solar dynamo. Without discussing the observational validity of the claimed correlations, we ask for a…
We provide here an explicit example of Khinchin's idea that the validity of equilibrium statistical mechanics in high dimensional systems does not depend on the details of the dynamics. This point of view is supported by extensive numerical…
Observations of exoplanets have revealed that systems with planets on closely-spaced orbits are common, which motivates the question "How closely can planets orbit to one another and still be dynamically-stable for very long times?". To…