相关论文: Why do warm Neptunes present nonzero eccentricity?
It is shown that circumbinary planetary systems are subject to universal tidal decay (shrinkage of orbits), caused by the forced orbital eccentricity inherent to them. Circumbinary planets (CBP) are liberated from parent systems, when,…
We use N-body simulations to explore the influence of orbital eccentricity on the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Specifically we compare the mass loss rate, velocity dispersion, relaxation time, and the mass function of star clusters…
We show that in a system of two planets initially in nearly circular orbits, an impulse perturbation that imparts a finite eccentricity to one planet's orbit causes the other planet's orbit to become eccentric as well, and also naturally…
The extraordinary activity at Enceladus' warm south pole indicates the presence of an internal global or local reservoir of liquid water beneath the surface. While Tyler (2009, 2011) has suggested that the geological activity and the large…
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…
Atmospheric tides can strongly affect the rotational dynamics of planets. In the family of Earth-like planets, such as Venus, this physical mechanism coupled with solid tides makes the angular velocity evolve over long timescales and…
The first discovered extrasolar worlds -- giant, ``hot Jupiter'' planets on short-period orbits -- came as a surprise to solar-system-centric models of planet formation, prompting the development of new theories for planetary system…
The discovery of Jupiter-mass planets in close orbits about their parent stars has challenged models of planet formation. Recent observations have shown that a number of these planets have highly inclined, sometimes retrograde orbits about…
Pluto's recently discovered minor moons, Nix and Hydra, have almost circular orbits, and are nearly coplanar with Charon, Pluto's major moon. This is surprising because tidal interactions with Pluto are too weak to damp their…
Whenever a freely spinning body is found in a complex rotational state, this means that either the body is a recent victim of an impact or a tidal interaction, or is a fragment of a recently disrupted progenitor. Another factor (relevant…
Hot Neptunes, gaseous planets smaller than Saturn ($\sim$ 3-8 R$_\oplus$) with orbital periods less than 10 days, are rare. Models predict this is due to high-energy stellar irradiation stripping planetary atmospheres over time, often…
To first approximation, a binary system conserves its angular momentum while it evolves to its state of minimum kinetic energy: circular orbit, all spins aligned, and components rotating in synchronism with the orbital motion. The pace at…
We report here on our search for excess power in photometry of Neptune collected by the K2 mission that may be due to intrinsic global oscillations of the planet Neptune. To conduct this search, we developed new methods to correct for…
We investigate tidal dissipation of obliquity in hot Jupiters. Assuming an initial random orientation of obliquity and parameters relevant to the observed population, the obliquity of hot Jupiters does not evolve to purely aligned systems.…
Over the course of the past two decades, observational surveys have unveiled the intricate orbital structure of the Kuiper Belt, a field of icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. In addition to a host of readily-predictable orbital…
We present an analytic description of tides raised on a star by a small orbiting body. In particular, we highlight the disproportionate effect of eccentricity and thus the scope for using these tides to detect and characterise the orbits of…
Recent analyses of the orbits of some Kuiper Belt objects hypothesize the presence of an undiscovered Neptune-size planet at a very large separation from the Sun. The energy budget of Neptunes on such distant orbits is dominated by the…
Kepler's observation shows that many of the detected planets are super-Earths. They are inside a range of critical masses overlapping the core masses (2-20 $M_{\bigoplus}$), which would trigger the runaway accretion and develop the gas…
We study the effect of tidal interaction between two compact bodies in an eccentric orbit. We assume the tidal fields to be static. Therefore, we ignore the dynamic tides and resonant excitations. Using the results, we find the analytical…
We study how close-in systems such as those detected by Kepler are affected by the dynamics of bodies in the outer system. We consider two scenarios: outer systems of giant planets potentially unstable to planet--planet scattering, and wide…