On the survival of resonant and non-resonant planetary systems in star clusters

Despite the discovery of thousands of exoplanets in recent years, the number of known exoplanets in star clusters remains tiny. This may be a consequence of close stellar encounters perturbing the dynamical evolution of planetary systems in these clusters. Here, we present the results from direct N-...

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Main Authors: Stock, Katja (Author) , Cai, Maxwell Xu (Author) , Spurzem, Rainer (Author) , Kouwenhoven, Thijs (Author) , Zwart, Simon Portegies (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 2020 July 13
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2020, Volume: 497, Issue: 2, Pages: 1807-1825
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/staa2047
Online Access:Resolving-System, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2047
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Author Notes:Katja Stock, Maxwell X. Cai, Rainer Spurzem, M.B.N. Kouwenhoven and Simon Portegies Zwart
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Summary:Despite the discovery of thousands of exoplanets in recent years, the number of known exoplanets in star clusters remains tiny. This may be a consequence of close stellar encounters perturbing the dynamical evolution of planetary systems in these clusters. Here, we present the results from direct N-body simulations of multiplanetary systems embedded in star clusters containing N = 8k, 16k, 32k, and 64k stars. The planetary systems, which consist of the four Solar system giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are initialized in different orbital configurations, to study the effect of the system architecture on the dynamical evolution of the entire planetary system, and on the escape rate of the individual planets. We find that the current orbital parameters of the Solar system giants (with initially circular orbits, as well as with present-day eccentricities) and a slightly more compact configuration, have a high resilience against stellar perturbations. A configuration with initial mean-motion resonances of 3:2, 3:2, and 5:4 between the planets, which is inspired by the Nice model, and for which the two outermost planets are usually ejected within the first 10(5) yr, is in many cases stabilized due to the removal of the resonances by external stellar perturbation and by the rapid ejection of at least one planet. Assigning all planets the same mass of 1 M-Jup almost equalizes the survival fractions. Our simulations reproduce the broad diversity amongst observed exoplanet systems. We find not only many very wide and/or eccentric orbits, but also a significant number of (stable) retrograde orbits.
Item Description:Gesehen am 11.12.2020
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/staa2047