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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Giant Planet Scatterings and Collisions: Hydrodynamics, Merger-Ejection Branching Ratio, and Properties of the Remnants

Planetary systems with sufficiently small orbital spacings can experience planetary mergers and ejections. The branching ratio of mergers vs ejections depends sensitively on the treatment of planetary close encounters. Previous works have adopted a simple “sticky-sphere” prescription, whose validity is questionable. We apply both smoothed particle hydrodynamics and N-body integrations to investigate the fluid effects in close encounters between gas giants and the long-term evolution of closely-packed planetary systems. Focusing on parabolic encounters between Jupiter-like planets with MJ and 2MJ, we find that quick mergers occur when the impact parameter rp (the pericenter separation between the planets) is less than 2RJ, and the merger conserved at least 97% of the initial mass. Strong tidal effects can affect the “binary-planet” orbit when rp is between 2RJ and 4RJ. We quantify these effects using a set of fitting formulae that can be implemented in N-body codes. We run a suite of N-body simulations with and without the formulae for systems of two giant planets initially in unstable, nearly circular and nearly coplanar orbits. The fluid (tidal) effects significantly increase the branching ratio of planetary mergers relative to ejections by doubling the effective collision radius. While the fluid effects do not change the distributions of semi-major axis and eccentricity of each type of remnant planets (mergers vs surviving planets in ejections), the overall orbital properties of planet scattering remnants are strongly affected due to the branching ratio change. We also find that the merger products have broad distributions of spin magnitudes and obliquities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Retention of Long-period Gas Giant Planets: Type II Migration Revisited

During their formation, emerging protoplanets tidally interact with their natal disks. Proto–gas giant planets, with Hill radii larger than the disk thickness, open gaps and quench gas flow in the vicinity of their orbits. It is usually assumed that their type II migration is coupled to the viscous evolution of the disk. Although this hypothesis provides an explanation for the origin of close-in planets, it also encounters a predicament on the retention of long-period orbits for most gas giant planets. Moreover, numerical simulations indicate that the planets' migrations are not solely determined by the viscous diffusion of their natal disk. In this work, we carry out a series of hydrodynamic simulations combined with analytic studies to examine the transition between different paradigms of type II migration. We find a range of planetary mass for which gas continues to flow through a severely depleted gap so that the surface density distribution in the disk region beyond the gap is maintained in a quasi-steady state. The associated gap profile modifies the location of corotation and Lindblad resonances. In the proximity of the planet's orbit, high-order Lindblad and corotation torque are weakened by the gas depletion in the gap, while low-order Lindblad torques near the gap walls preserve their magnitude. Consequently, the intrinsic surface density distribution of the disk delicately determines both the pace and direction of the planets' type II migration. We show that this effect might stall the inward migration of giant planets and preserve them in disk regions where the surface density is steep.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone for Synchronously Rotating Planets Around Low-Mass Stars Using General Circulation Models

Terrestrial planets at the inner edge of the habitable zone (HZ) of late-K and M-dwarf stars are expected to be in synchronous rotation, as a consequence of strong tidal interactions with their host stars. Previous global climate model (GCM) studies have shown that, for slowly rotating planets, strong convection at the substellar point can create optically thick water clouds, increasing the planetary albedo, and thus stabilizing the climate against a thermal runaway. However these studies did not use self-consistent orbital/rotational periods for synchronously rotating planets placed at different distances from the host star. Here we provide new estimates of the inner edge of the HZ for synchronously rotating terrestrial planets around late-K and M-dwarf stars using a 3D Earth-analog GCM with self-consistent relationships between stellar metallicity, stellar effective temperature, and the planetary orbital/rotational period. We find that both atmospheric dynamics and the efficacy of the substellar cloud deck are sensitive to the precise rotation rate of the planet. Around mid-to-late M-dwarf stars with low metallicity, planetary rotation rates at the inner edge of the HZ become faster, and the inner edge of the HZ is farther away from the host stars than in previous GCM studies. For an Earth-sized planet, the dynamical regime of the substellar clouds begins to transition as the rotation rate approaches ∼10 days. These faster rotation rates produce stronger zonal winds that encircle the planet and smear the substellar clouds around it, lowering the planetary albedo, and causing the onset of the water-vapor greenhouse climatic instability to occur at up to ∼25% lower incident stellar fluxes than found in previous GCM studies. For mid-to-late M-dwarf stars with high metallicity and for mid-K to early-M stars, we agree with previous studies.

Planet and satellite atmospheres↗
DOE OSTI2011

TEMPORARY CAPTURE OF PLANETESIMALS BY A PLANET FROM THEIR HELIOCENTRIC ORBITS

When planetesimals encounter a planet, they can be temporarily captured by the planet's gravity and orbit about it for an extended period of time before escaping from the planet's vicinity. Such a process may have played an important role in the origin of irregular satellites or the dynamical evolution of short-period comets. Using three-body orbital integration, we study the temporary capture of planetesimals by a planet from their heliocentric eccentric orbits. We examine the dependence of the orbital characteristics during temporary capture as well as the rate of capture on the pre-capture heliocentric orbital parameters. We find that typical orbital size and direction of revolution around the planet change depending on planetesimals' initial eccentricity and energy. When initial eccentricity is so small that Kepler shear dominates the relative velocity between planetesimals and the planet, temporary capture typically occurs in the retrograde direction in the vicinity of the planet's Hill sphere, while large retrograde capture orbits outside the Hill sphere are predominant for large eccentricities. Long prograde capture occurs in a very narrow range of planetesimal eccentricity and energy. We obtain the rate of temporary capture of planetesimals and find that the rate of long capture increases with increasing eccentricity at low and high eccentricities, but decreases with increasing eccentricity in intermediate values of eccentricity. We also examine the dependence of capture rate on the duration of capture and find an approximate power-law dependence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

HIGH-CONTRAST IMAGING SEARCH FOR PLANETS AND BROWN DWARFS AROUND THE MOST MASSIVE STARS IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD

There has been a long-standing discussion in the literature as to whether core accretion or disk instability is the dominant mode of planet formation. Over the last decade, several lines of evidence have been presented showing that core accretion is most likely the dominant mechanism for the close-in population of planets probed by radial velocity and transits. However, this does not by itself prove that core accretion is the dominant mode for the total planet population, since disk instability might conceivably produce and retain large numbers of planets in the far-out regions of the disk. If this is a relevant scenario, then the outer massive disks of B-stars should be among the best places for massive planets and brown dwarfs to form and reside. In this study, we present high-contrast imaging of 18 nearby massive stars of which 15 are in the B2-A0 spectral-type range and provide excellent sensitivity to wide companions. By comparing our sensitivities to model predictions of disk instability based on physical criteria for fragmentation and cooling, and using Monte Carlo simulations for orbital distributions, we find that {approx}85% of such companions should have been detected in our images on average. Given this high degree of completeness, stringent statistical limits can be set from the null-detection result, even with the limited sample size. We find that <30% of massive stars form and retain disk instability planets, brown dwarfs, and very low mass stars of <100 M{sub jup} within 300 AU, at 99% confidence. These results, combined with previous findings in the literature, lead to the conclusion that core accretion is likely the dominant mode of planet formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

MODEL ATMOSPHERES FOR MASSIVE GAS GIANTS WITH THICK CLOUDS: APPLICATION TO THE HR 8799 PLANETS AND PREDICTIONS FOR FUTURE DETECTIONS

We have generated an extensive new suite of massive giant planet atmosphere models and used it to obtain fits to photometric data for the planets HR 8799b, c, and d. We consider a wide range of cloudy and cloud-free models. The cloudy models incorporate different geometrical and optical thicknesses, modal particle sizes, and metallicities. For each planet and set of cloud parameters, we explore grids in gravity and effective temperature, with which we determine constraints on the planet's mass and age. Our new models yield statistically significant fits to the data, and conclusively confirm that the HR 8799 planets have much thicker clouds than those required to explain data for typical L and T dwarfs. Both models with (1) physically thick forsterite clouds and a 60 {mu}m modal particle size and (2) clouds made of 1 {mu}m sized pure iron droplets and 1% supersaturation fit the data. Current data are insufficient to accurately constrain the microscopic cloud properties, such as composition and particle size. The range of best-estimated masses for HR 8799b, HR 8799c, and HR 8799d conservatively span 2-12 M{sub J} , 6-13 M{sub J} , and 3-11 M{sub J} , respectively, and imply coeval ages between {approx}10 and {approx}150 Myr, consistent with previously reported stellar ages. The best-fit temperatures and gravities are slightly lower than values obtained by Currie et al. using even thicker cloud models. Finally, we use these models to predict the near-to-mid-IR colors of soon-to-be imaged planets. Our models predict that planet-mass objects follow a locus in some near-to-mid-IR color-magnitude diagrams that is clearly separable from the standard L/T dwarf locus for field brown dwarfs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN A PROTOPLANETARY DISK AND A PLANET IN AN ECCENTRIC ORBIT: APPLICATION OF DYNAMICAL FRICTION

We present a new analytic approach to the disk-planet interaction that is especially useful for planets with eccentricity larger than the disk aspect ratio. We make use of the dynamical friction formula to calculate the force exerted on the planet by the disk, and the force is averaged over the period of the planet. The resulting migration and eccentricity damping timescale agree very well with previous works in which the planet eccentricity is moderately larger than the disk aspect ratio. The advantage of this approach is that it is possible to apply this formulation to arbitrary large eccentricity. We have found that the timescale of the orbital evolution depends largely on the adopted disk model in the case of highly eccentric planets. We discuss the possible implication of our results for the theory of planet formation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

DISCOVERY AND MASS MEASUREMENTS OF A COLD, 10 EARTH MASS PLANET AND ITS HOST STAR

We present the discovery and mass measurement of the cold, low-mass planet MOA-2009-BLG-266Lb, performed with the gravitational microlensing method. This planet has a mass of m{sub p} = 10.4 {+-} 1.7 M{sub +} and orbits a star of mass M{sub *} = 0.56 {+-} 0.09 M{sub sun} at a semimajor axis of a = 3.2{sub -0.5}{sup +1.9} AU and an orbital period of P = 7.6{sub -1.5}{sup +7+7} yrs. The planet and host star mass measurements are enabled by the measurement of the microlensing parallax effect, which is seen primarily in the light curve distortion due to the orbital motion of the Earth. But the analysis also demonstrates the capability to measure the microlensing parallax with the Deep Impact (or EPOXI) spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit. The planet mass and orbital distance are similar to predictions for the critical core mass needed to accrete a substantial gaseous envelope, and thus may indicate that this planet is a 'failed' gas giant. This and future microlensing detections will test planet formation theory predictions regarding the prevalence and masses of such planets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

ASTROMETRY AND RADIAL VELOCITIES OF THE PLANET HOST M DWARF GJ 317: NEW TRIGONOMETRIC DISTANCE, METALLICITY, AND UPPER LIMIT TO THE MASS OF GJ 317b

We have obtained precision astrometry of the planet host M dwarf GJ 317 in the framework of the Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search project. The new astrometric measurements give a distance determination of 15.3 pc, 65% further than previous estimates. The resulting absolute magnitudes suggest that it is metal-rich and more massive than previously assumed. This result strengthens the correlation between high metallicity and the presence of gas giants around low-mass stars. At 15.3 pc, the minimal astrometric amplitude for planet candidate GJ 317b is 0.3 mas (edge-on orbit), just below our astrometric sensitivity. However, given the relatively large number of observations and good astrometric precision, a Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis indicates that the mass of planet b has to be smaller than twice the minimum mass with a 99% confidence level, with a most likely value of 2.5 M{sub Jup}. Additional radial velocity (RV) measurements obtained with Keck by the Lick-Carnegie Planet search program confirm the presence of an additional very long period planet candidate, with a period of 20 years or more. Even though such an object will imprint a large astrometric wobble on the star, its curvature is yet not evident in the astrometry. Given high metallicity, and the trend indicating that multiple systems are rich in low-mass companions, this system is likely to host additional low-mass planets in its habitable zone that can be readily detected with state-of-the-art optical and near-infrared RV measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

ORBITAL MIGRATION OF INTERACTING LOW-MASS PLANETS IN EVOLUTIONARY RADIATIVE TURBULENT MODELS

The torques exerted by a locally isothermal disk on an embedded planet lead to rapid inward migration. Recent work has shown that modeling the thermodynamics without the assumption of local isothermality reveals regions where the net torque on an embedded planet is positive, leading to outward migration of the planet. When a region with negative torque lies directly exterior to this, planets in the inner region migrate outward and planets in the outer region migrate inward, converging where the torque is zero. We incorporate the torques from an evolving non-isothermal disk into an N-body simulation to examine the behavior of planets or planetary embryos interacting in the convergence zone. We find that mutual interactions do not eject objects from the convergence zone. Small numbers of objects in a laminar disk settle into near resonant orbits that remain stable over the 10 Myr periods that we examine. However, either or both increasing the number of planets or including a correlated, stochastic force to represent turbulence drives orbit crossings and mergers in the convergence zone. These processes can build gas giant cores with masses of order 10 Earth masses from sub-Earth mass embryos in 2-3 Myr.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

HIGH-MASS, FOUR-PLANET CONFIGURATIONS FOR HR 8799: CONSTRAINING THE ORBITAL INCLINATION AND AGE OF THE SYSTEM

Debates regarding the age and inclination of the planetary system orbiting HR 8799, and the release of additional astrometric data following the discovery of the fourth planet, prompted us to examine the possibility of constraining these two quantities by studying the long-term stability of this system at different orbital inclinations and in its high-mass configuration (7-10-10-10 M{sub Jup}). We carried out {approx}1.5 million N-body integrations for different combinations of orbital elements of the four planets. The most dynamically stable combinations survived less than {approx}5 Myr at inclinations of 0 Degree-Sign and 13 Degree-Sign , and 41, 46, and 31 Myr at 18 Degree-Sign , 23 Degree-Sign , and 30 Degree-Sign , respectively. Given such short lifetimes and the location of the system on the age-luminosity diagram for low-mass objects, the most reasonable conclusion of our study is that the planetary masses are less than 7-10-10-10 M{sub Jup} and the system is quite young. Two trends to note from our work are as follows. (1) In the most stable systems, the higher the inclination, the more the coordinates for planets b and c diverge from the oldest archival astrometric data (released after we completed our N-body integrations), suggesting that either these planets are in eccentric orbits or have lower orbital inclinations than that of planet d. (2) The most stable systems place planet e closer to the central star than is observed, supporting the conclusion that the planets are more massive and the system is young. We present the details of our simulations and discuss the implications of the results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

DUST FILTRATION BY PLANET-INDUCED GAP EDGES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSITIONAL DISKS

By carrying out two-dimensional two-fluid global simulations, we have studied the response of dust to gap formation by a single planet in the gaseous component of a protoplanetary disk-the so-called dust filtration mechanism. We have found that a gap opened by a giant planet at 20 AU in an {alpha} = 0.01, M-dot =10{sup -8} M{sub Sun} yr{sup -1} disk can effectively stop dust particles larger than 0.1 mm drifting inward, leaving a submillimeter (submm) dust cavity/hole. However, smaller particles are difficult to filter by a gap induced by a several M{sub J} planet due to (1) dust diffusion and (2) a high gas accretion velocity at the gap edge. Based on these simulations, an analytic model is derived to understand what size particles can be filtered by the planet-induced gap edge. We show that a dimensionless parameter T{sub s} /{alpha}, which is the ratio between the dimensionless dust stopping time and the disk viscosity parameter, is important for the dust filtration process. Finally, with our updated understanding of dust filtration, we have computed Monte Carlo radiative transfer models with variable dust size distributions to generate the spectral energy distributions of disks with gaps. By comparing with transitional disk observations (e.g., GM Aur), we have found that dust filtration alone has difficulties depleting small particles sufficiently to explain the near-IR deficit of moderate M-dot transitional disks, except under some extreme circumstances. The scenario of gap opening by multiple planets studied previously suffers the same difficulty. One possible solution is to invoke both dust filtration and dust growth in the inner disk. In this scenario, a planet-induced gap filters large dust particles in the disk, and the remaining small dust particles passing to the inner disk can grow efficiently without replenishment from fragmentation of large grains. Predictions for ALMA have also been made based on all these scenarios. We conclude that dust filtration with planet(s) in the disk is a promising mechanism to explain submm observations of transitional disks but it may need to be combined with other processes (e.g., dust growth) to explain the near-IR deficit of some systems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb: A TEST OF PURE SURVEY MICROLENSING PLANET DETECTIONS

Because of the development of large-format, wide-field cameras, microlensing surveys are now able to monitor millions of stars with sufficient cadence to detect planets. These new discoveries will span the full range of significance levels including planetary signals too small to be distinguished from the noise. At present, we do not understand where the threshold is for detecting planets. MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb is the first planet to be published from the new surveys, and it also has substantial follow-up observations. This planet is robustly detected in survey+follow-up data ({Delta}{chi}{sup 2} {approx} 5400). The planet/host mass ratio is q = (5.3 {+-} 0.2) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3}. The best-fit projected separation is s = 0.548 {+-} 0.005 Einstein radii. However, due to the s{r_reversible}s{sup -1} degeneracy, projected separations of s{sup -1} are only marginally disfavored at {Delta}{chi}{sup 2} = 3. A Bayesian estimate of the host mass gives M{sub L} = 0.43{sup +0.27}{sub -0.17} M{sub Sun }, with a sharp upper limit of M{sub L} < 1.2 M{sub Sun} from upper limits on the lens flux. Hence, the planet mass is m{sub p} = 2.4{sup +1.5}{sub -0.9} M{sub Jup}, and the physical projected separation is either r {approx_equal} 1.0 AU or r {approx_equal} 3.4 AU. We show that survey data alone predict this solution and are able to characterize the planet, but the {Delta}{chi}{sup 2} is much smaller ({Delta}{chi}{sup 2} {approx} 500) than with the follow-up data. The {Delta}{chi}{sup 2} for the survey data alone is smaller than for any other securely detected planet. This event suggests a means to probe the detection threshold, by analyzing a large sample of events like MOA-2011-BLG-293, which have both follow-up data and high-cadence survey data, to provide a guide for the interpretation of pure survey microlensing data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

CALIBRATION OF EQUILIBRIUM TIDE THEORY FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANET SYSTEMS. II

We present a new empirical calibration of equilibrium tidal theory for extrasolar planet systems, extending a prior study by incorporating detailed physical models for the internal structure of planets and host stars. The resulting strength of the stellar tide produces a coupling that is strong enough to reorient the spins of some host stars without causing catastrophic orbital evolution, thereby potentially explaining the observed trend in alignment between stellar spin and planetary orbital angular momentum. By isolating the sample whose spins should not have been altered in this model, we also show evidence for two different processes that contribute to the population of planets with short orbital periods. We apply our results to estimate the remaining lifetimes for short-period planets, examine the survival of planets around evolving stars, and determine the limits for circularization of planets with highly eccentric orbits. Our analysis suggests that the survival of circularized planets is strongly affected by the amount of heat dissipated, which is often large enough to lead to runaway orbital inflation and Roche lobe overflow.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF KEPLER PLANET-CANDIDATE HOST STARS USING ASTEROSEISMOLOGY

We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66 Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions for four host stars with confirmed planets (Kepler-4, Kepler-14, Kepler-23 and Kepler-25) and increase the total number of Kepler host stars with asteroseismic solutions to 77. A comparison with stellar properties in the planet-candidate catalog by Batalha et al. shows that radii for subgiants and giants obtained from spectroscopic follow-up are systematically too low by up to a factor of 1.5, while the properties for unevolved stars are in good agreement. We furthermore apply asteroseismology to confirm that a large majority of cool main-sequence hosts are indeed dwarfs and not misclassified giants. Using the revised stellar properties, we recalculate the radii for 107 planet candidates in our sample, and comment on candidates for which the radii change from a previously giant-planet/brown-dwarf/stellar regime to a sub-Jupiter size or vice versa. A comparison of stellar densities from asteroseismology with densities derived from transit models in Batalha et al. assuming circular orbits shows significant disagreement for more than half of the sample due to systematics in the modeled impact parameters or due to planet candidates that may be in eccentric orbits. Finally, we investigate tentative correlations between host-star masses and planet-candidate radii, orbital periods, and multiplicity, but caution that these results may be influenced by the small sample size and detection biases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE MASS OF KOI-94d AND A RELATION FOR PLANET RADIUS, MASS, AND INCIDENT FLUX

We measure the mass of a modestly irradiated giant planet, KOI-94d. We wish to determine whether this planet, which is in a 22 day orbit and receives 2700 times as much incident flux as Jupiter, is as dense as Jupiter or rarefied like inflated hot Jupiters. KOI-94 also hosts at least three smaller transiting planets, all of which were detected by the Kepler mission. With 26 radial velocities of KOI-94 from the W. M. Keck Observatory and a simultaneous fit to the Kepler light curve, we measure the mass of the giant planet and determine that it is not inflated. Support for the planetary interpretation of the other three candidates comes from gravitational interactions through transit timing variations, the statistical robustness of multi-planet systems against false positives, and several lines of evidence that no other star resides within the photometric aperture. We report the properties of KOI-94b (M{sub P} = 10.5 {+-} 4.6 M{sub Circled-Plus }, R{sub P} = 1.71 {+-} 0.16 R{sub Circled-Plus }, P = 3.74 days), KOI-94c (M{sub P} = 15.6{sup +5.7}{sub -15.6} M{sub Circled-Plus }, R{sub P} = 4.32 {+-} 0.41 R{sub Circled-Plus }, P = 10.4 days), KOI-94d (M{sub P} = 106 {+-} 11 M{sub Circled-Plus }, R{sub P} = 11.27 {+-} 1.06 R{sub Circled-Plus }, P = 22.3 days), and KOI-94e (M{sub P} = 35{sup +18}{sub -28} M{sub Circled-Plus }, R{sub P} = 6.56 {+-} 0.62 R{sub Circled-Plus }, P = 54.3 days). The radial velocity analyses of KOI-94b and KOI-94e offer marginal (>2{sigma}) mass detections, whereas the observations of KOI-94c offer only an upper limit to its mass. Using the KOI-94 system and other planets with published values for both mass and radius (138 exoplanets total, including 35 with M{sub P} < 150 M{sub Circled-Plus }), we establish two fundamental planes for exoplanets that relate their mass, incident flux, and radius from a few Earth masses up to 13 Jupiter masses: (R{sub P}/R{sub Circled-Plus }) = 1.78(M{sub P}/M{sub Circled-Plus }){sup 0.53}(F/erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2}){sup -0.03} for M{sub P} < 150 M{sub Circled-Plus }, and R{sub P}/R{sub Circled-Plus} = 2.45(M{sub P}/M{sub Circled-Plus }){sup -0.039}(F/erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2}){sup 0.094} for M{sub P} > 150 M{sub Circled-Plus }. These equations can be used to predict the radius or mass of a planet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE SEEDS DIRECT IMAGING SURVEY FOR PLANETS AND SCATTERED DUST EMISSION IN DEBRIS DISK SYSTEMS

Debris disks around young main-sequence stars often have gaps and cavities which for a long time have been interpreted as possibly being caused by planets. In recent years, several giant planet discoveries have been made in systems hosting disks of precisely this nature, further implying that interactions with planets could be a common cause of such disk structures. As part of the SEEDS high-contrast imaging survey, we are surveying a population of debris-disk-hosting stars with gaps and cavities implied by their spectral energy distributions, in order to attempt to spatially resolve the disk as well as to detect any planets that may be responsible for the disk structure. Here, we report on intermediate results from this survey. Five debris disks have been spatially resolved, and a number of faint point sources have been discovered, most of which have been tested for common proper motion, which in each case has excluded physical companionship with the target stars. From the detection limits of the 50 targets that have been observed, we find that {beta} Pic b-like planets ({approx}10 M{sub jup} planets around G-A-type stars) near the gap edges are less frequent than 15%-30%, implying that if giant planets are the dominant cause of these wide (27 AU on average) gaps, they are generally less massive than {beta} Pic b.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

TRANSITS AND OCCULTATIONS OF AN EARTH-SIZED PLANET IN AN 8.5 hr ORBIT

We report the discovery of an Earth-sized planet (1.16 {+-} 0.19 R{sub Circled-Plus }) in an 8.5 hr orbit around a late G-type star (KIC 8435766, Kepler-xx). The object was identified in a search for short-period planets in the Kepler database and confirmed to be a transiting planet (as opposed to an eclipsing stellar system) through the absence of ellipsoidal light variations or substantial radial-velocity variations. The unusually short orbital period and the relative brightness of the host star (m{sub Kep} = 11.5) enable robust detections of the changing illumination of the visible hemisphere of the planet, as well as the occultations of the planet by the star. We interpret these signals as representing a combination of reflected and reprocessed light, with the highest planet dayside temperature in the range of 2300 K-3100 K. Follow-up spectroscopy combined with finer sampling photometric observations will further pin down the system parameters and may even yield the mass of the planet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗