Related papers: Are mirror planets opaque?
From wispy gas giants on the verge of disruption to tiny rocky bodies already falling apart, short-period exoplanets pose a severe puzzle to theories of planet formation and orbital evolution. By far most of the planets known beyond the…
We have measured radial velocities of a star, OGLE-TR-56, which shows a 1.2-day transit-like light curve found photometrically by Udalski et al.(2002ab). Here we show that the velocity changes we detect are probably induced by an object of…
Recent observations of giant planets have revealed unexpected bulk densities. Hot Jupiters, in particular, appear larger than expected for their masses compared to planetary evolution models, while warm Jupiters seem denser than expected.…
Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can…
The anomalously large radii of strongly irradiated exoplanets have remained a major puzzle in astronomy. Based on a 2D steady state atmospheric circulation model, the validity of which is assessed by comparison to 3D calculations, we reveal…
A decade ago, the detection of the first transiting extrasolar planet provided a direct constraint on its composition and opened the door to spectroscopic investigations of extrasolar planetary atmospheres. As such characterization studies…
Among more than 200 extrasolar planet candidates discovered to date, there is no known planet orbiting around normal binary stars. In this paper, we demonstrate that microlensing is a technique that can detect such planets. Microlensing…
An intriguing, growing class of planets are the "super-puffs," objects with exceptionally large radii for their masses and thus correspondingly low densities ($\lesssim0.3\rm\,g\,cm^{-3}$). Here we consider whether they could have large…
We calculate a new suite of albedo models for close-in extrasolar giant planets and compare with the recent stringent upper limit for HD 209458b of Rowe et al. using MOST. We find that all models without scattering clouds are consistent…
Planets in close orbits around their host stars are subject to strong irradiation. High-energy irradiation, originating from the stellar corona and chromosphere, is mainly responsible for the evaporation of exoplanetary atmospheres. We have…
The mirror twin Higgs model is a candidate for (strongly-interacting) complex dark matter, which mirrors SM interactions with heavier quark masses. A consequence of this model are mirror neutron stars -- exotic stars made entirely of mirror…
The study of extra-solar planetary systems has emerged as a new discipline of observational astronomy in the past few years with the discovery of a number of extra-solar planets. The properties of most of these extra-solar planets were not…
Observations by the MACHO collaboration suggest that a significant proportion of the galactic halo dark matter is in the form of compact objects with typical masses $M\sim 0.5M_{\odot}$. One of the current mysteries is the nature and origin…
We propose that the ``isolated'' planetary mass objects observed by Zapatero Osorio et al in the $\sigma$ Orionis cluster might actually be in orbit around invisible stellar mass companions such as mirror stars. Mirror matter is expected to…
Analyses of exoplanet statistics suggest a trend of giant planet occurrence with host star mass, a clue to how planets like Jupiter form. One missing piece of the puzzle is the occurrence around late K dwarf stars (masses of 0.5-0.75Msun…
We investigate the prospects for characterizing extrasolar giant planets by measuring planetary oblateness from transit photometry and inferring planetary rotational periods. The rotation rates of planets in the solar system vary widely,…
One of the deepest unsolved puzzles of subatomic physics is why Nature prefers the left particles to the right ones. Mirror matter is an attempt to understand this mystery by assuming the existence of a "parallel''world where this…
Some transiting extrasolar giant planets have measured radii larger than predicted by the standard theory. In this paper, we explore the possibility that an earlier episode of tidal heating can explain such radius anomalies and apply the…
Mirror matter type dark matter can exist on the Earth's surface, potentially in enhanced concentrations at various anomalous impact sites. Mirror matter fragments can draw in heat from the ordinary matter environment, radiate mirror photons…
Previous work has established the enhanced occurrence of compact systems of multiple small exoplanets around metal-poor stars. Understanding the origin of this effect in the planet formation process is a topic of ongoing research. Here we…