Related papers: A Hierarchical Bayesian Framework for Inferring th…
Under certain rather prevalent conditions (driven by dynamical orbital evolution), a hierarchical triple stellar system can be well approximated, from the standpoint of orbital parameter estimation, as two binary star systems combined. Even…
Transiting planets in multiple-star systems, especially high-order multiples, make up a small fraction of the known planet population but provide unique opportunities to study the environments in which planets would have formed.…
Planetary obliquity (axial tilt) plays an important role in regulating the climate evolution and habitability of water-covered planets. Despite the suspicion of large obliquities in several exoplanetary systems, this phenomenon remains hard…
The distribution of angular momentum of planets and their host stars provides important information on the formation and evolution of the planetary system. However, mysteries still remain, partly due to bias and uncertainty of the current…
The rotation axis of the Sun is misaligned from the mean angular momentum plane of the Solar system by about 6 degrees. This obliquity significantly exceeds the ~1-2 degree distribution of inclinations among the planetary orbits and…
In planetary systems with sufficiently small inter-planet spacing, close encounters can lead to planetary collisions/mergers or ejections. We study the spin property of the merger products of two giant planets in a statistical manner using…
We develop a simple model of planetary formation, focusing our attention on those planets with masses less than 10 Earth masses and studying particularly the primordial spin parameters of planets resulting from the accretion of…
The orbital eccentricity distribution of exoplanets is shaped by a combination of dynamical processes, reflecting both formation conditions and long-term evolution. Probing the orbital dynamics of planets in the kinematic thin and thick…
Accumulation of new data on stellar hierarchical systems and the progress in numerical simulations of their formation open the door to genetic classification of these systems, where properties of a certain group (family) of objects are…
The known extrasolar multiple-planet systems share a surprising dynamical attribute: they cluster just beyond the Hill stability boundary. Here we show that the planet-planet scattering model, which naturally explains the observed exoplanet…
Oscillations occur in stars of most masses and essentially all stages of evolution. Asteroseismology is the study of the frequencies and other properties of stellar oscillations, from which we can extract fundamental parameters such as…
An overabundance of single-transiting Kepler planets suggests the existence of a sub-population of intrinsically multi-planet systems possessing large mutual inclinations. However, the origin of these mutual inclinations remains unknown.…
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…
It has recently been shown that stellar clustering plays an important role in shaping the properties of planetary systems. We investigate how the multiplicity distributions and orbital periods of planetary systems depend on the 6D phase…
Correlations between planetary and stellar properties, particularly age, can provide insight on planetary formation and evolution processes. However, the underlying source of such trends can be unclear, and measurement uncertainties and…
The minimum orbital separation of planets in long-stable planetary systems is often modeled as a step function, parameterized with a single value $\Delta_{min}$ (measured in mutual Hill radius of the two neighboring planets). Systems with…
Obliquity variability could play an important role in the climate and habitability of a planet. Orbital modulations caused by planetary companions and the planet's spin axis precession due to the torque from the host star may lead to…
Planet Planet scattering is a leading dynamical mechanism invoked to explain the present orbital distribution of exoplanets. Many stars belong to binary systems, therefore it is important to understand how this mechanism works in presence…
The final orbital configuration of a planetary system is shaped by both its early star-disk environment and late-stage gravitational interactions. Assessing the relative importance of each of these factors is not straightforward due to the…
Stellar streams, the debris of tidally disrupted satellites, trace their host's gravitational potential and thus probe dark matter halo structure. While six-dimensional phase-space data of Galactic streams enable precise dark matter halo…