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Related papers: Free-Floating Planets: Not So Surprising

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As of August 2019, among the more than 4000 confirmed exoplanets, only one has been detected in a globular cluster (GC) M4. The scarce of exoplanet detections motivates us to employ direct $N$-body simulations to investigate the dynamical…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-09-11 Maxwell Xu Cai , S. Portegies Zwart , M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , Rainer Spurzem

Recent gravitational microlensing observations predict a vast population of free-floating giant planets that outnumbers main sequence stars almost twofold. A frequently-invoked mechanism for generating this population is a dynamical…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 Dimitri Veras , Sean N. Raymond

We report results of collisional N-body simulations aimed to study the N-dependance of the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Our clusters consist of equal-mass stars and are in virial equilibrium. Clusters moving in external tidal…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 H. Baumgardt

The nature and origin of free-floating planets (FFPs) are still largely unconstrained because of a lack of large homogeneous samples to enable a statistical analysis of their properties. So far, most FFPs have been discovered using indirect…

In star clusters, close stellar encounters can strongly impact the architecture of a planetary system or even destroy it. We present a systematic study on the effects of stellar flybys on two-planet systems. When such a system experiences…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-07-22 Fangyuan Yu , Dong Lai

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…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-05-12 R. Spurzem , M. Giersz , D. C. Heggie , D. N. C. Lin

Following the suggestion of Black (1997) that some massive extrasolar planets may be associated with the tail of the distribution of stellar companions, we investigate a scenario in which 5 < N < 100 planetary mass objects are assumed to…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 J. C. B. Papaloizou , Caroline Terquem

Star clusters - open and globulars - experience dynamical evolution on time scales shorter than their age. Consequently, open and globular clusters provide us with unique dynamical laboratories for learning about two-body relaxation, mass…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Georges Meylan

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-07-04 Alysa Obertas , Christa Van Laerhoven , Daniel Tamayo

Most stars, perhaps even all stars, form in crowded stellar environments. Such star forming regions typically dissolve within ten million years, while others remain bound as stellar groupings for hundreds of millions to billions of years,…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-12-03 Francesco Flammini Dotti , Maxwell Xu Cai , Rainer Spurzem , M. B. N. Kouwenhoven

Most stars and their planets form in open clusters. Over 95 per cent of such clusters have stellar densities too low (less than a hundred stars per cubic parsec) to withstand internal and external dynamical stresses and fall apart within a…

The discovery of planets around PSR~1257+12 suggests that planetary systems may be detected around the recycled pulsars found in globular clusters. Planetary systems in dense clusters have lifetimes to disruption due to perturbations by…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-04-03 Steinn Sigurdsson

Most stars form in star clusters and stellar associated. To understand the roles of star cluster environments in shaping the dynamical evolution of planetary systems, we carry out direct $N$-body simulations of four planetary systems models…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2017-06-15 Maxwell Xu Cai , M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , Simon F. Portegies Zwart , Rainer Spurzem

We investigate the velocity evolution of free-floating planets and interstellar objects (``free floaters'') through gravitational scatterings by field stars (with the stellar mass $m$ much larger than the mass of the floater, $m_p$). We…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-02-17 Jun Yan Lau , Dong Lai

Recent detections of extremely short-timescale microlensing events imply the existence of a large population of Earth- to Neptune-mass planets that appear to have no host stars. However, it is currently unknown whether these objects are…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-01-02 P. Mroz , M. Ban , P. Marty , R. Poleski

Thousands of confirmed and candidate exoplanets have been identified in recent years. Consequently, theoretical research on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems has seen a boost, and the processes of planet-planet…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-09-06 M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , Qi Shu , Maxwell Xu Cai , Rainer Spurzem

The dominant mechanism for generating free-floating planets has so far remained elusive. One suggested mechanism is that planets are ejected from planetary systems due to planet-planet interactions. However, instability around a single star…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-10-25 Cheng Chen , Rebecca G. Martin , Stephen H. Lubow , C. J. Nixon

The majority of discovered exoplanets have been observed orbiting field stars as opposed to within a star cluster. To determine whether the lack of observed exoplanets in star clusters is due to gravitational perturbations or observational…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2026-05-08 Jeremy J. Webb , Milica Ivetic , Maxwell X. Cai , Simon Portegies Zwart , Daniella Morrone

We argue that all transient searches for planets in globular clusters have a very low detection probability. Planets of low metallicity stars typically do not reside at small orbital separations. The dependance of planetary system…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Noam Soker , Alon Hershenhorn

The majority of stars form in star clusters and many are thought to have planetary companions. We demonstrate that multi-planet systems are prone to instabilities as a result of frequent stellar encounters in these star clusters much more…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 W. Hao , M. B. N. Kouwenhoven , R. Spurzem