We present a novel, model-independent framework for studying the architecture of an exoplanetary system at the system level. This framework allows us to characterise, quantify, and classify the ...architecture of an individual planetary system. Our aim in this endeavour is to generate a systematic method to study the arrangement and distribution of various planetary quantities within a single planetary system. We propose that the space of planetary system architectures be partitioned into four classes: similar, mixed, anti-ordered, and ordered. We applied our framework to observed and synthetic multi-planetary systems, thereby studying their architectures of mass, radius, density, core mass, and the core water mass fraction. We explored the relationships between a system’s (mass) architecture and other properties. Our work suggests that: (a) similar architectures are the most common outcome of planet formation; (b) internal structure and composition of planets shows a strong link with their system architecture; (c) most systems inherit their mass architecture from their core mass architecture; (d) most planets that started inside the ice line and formed in-situ are found in systems with a similar architecture; and (e) most anti-ordered systems are expected to be rich in wet planets, while most observed mass ordered systems are expected to have many dry planets. We find, in good agreement with theory, that observations are generally biased towards the discovery of systems whose density architectures are similar, mixed, or anti-ordered. This study probes novel questions and new parameter spaces for understanding theory and observations. Future studies may utilise our framework to not only constrain the knowledge of individual planets, but also the multi-faceted architecture of an entire planetary system. We also speculate on the role of system architectures in hosting habitable worlds.
In the first paper of this series, we proposed a model-independent framework for characterising the architecture of planetary systems at the system level. There are four classes of planetary system ...architecture: similar, mixed, anti-ordered, and ordered. In this paper, we investigate the formation pathways leading to these four architecture classes. To understand the role of nature versus nurture in sculpting the final (mass) architecture of a system, we apply our architecture framework to synthetic planetary systems – formed via core-accretion – using the Bern model. General patterns emerge in the formation pathways of the four architecture classes. Almost all planetary systems emerging from protoplanetary disks whose initial solid mass was less than one Jupiter mass are similar. Systems emerging from heavier disks may become mixed, anti-ordered, or ordered. Increasing dynamical interactions (planet–planet, planet–disk) tends to shift a system’s architecture from mixed to anti-ordered to ordered. Our model predicts the existence of a new metallicity–architecture correlation. Similar systems have very high occurrence around low-metallicity stars. The occurrence of the anti-ordered and ordered classes increases with increasing metallicity. The occurrence of mixed architecture first increases and then decreases with increasing metallicity. In our synthetic planetary systems, the role of nature is disentangled from the role of nurture. Nature (or initial conditions) pre-determines whether the architecture of a system becomes similar; otherwise nurture influences whether a system becomes mixed, anti-ordered, or ordered. We propose the ‘Aryabhata formation scenario’ to explain some planetary systems which host only water-rich worlds. We finish this paper with a discussion of future observational and theoretical works that may support or refute the results of this paper.
Exoplanets down to the size of Earth have been found, but not in the habitable zone--that is, at a distance from the parent star at which water, if present, would be liquid. There are planets in the ...habitable zone of stars cooler than our Sun, but for reasons such as tidal locking and strong stellar activity, they are unlikely to harbour water-carbon life as we know it. The detection of a habitable Earth-mass planet orbiting a star similar to our Sun is extremely difficult, because such a signal is overwhelmed by stellar perturbations. Here we report the detection of an Earth-mass planet orbiting our neighbour star α Centauri B, a member of the closest stellar system to the Sun. The planet has an orbital period of 3.236 days and is about 0.04 astronomical units from the star (one astronomical unit is the Earth-Sun distance).
A rocky planet transiting a nearby low-mass star Berta-Thompson, Zachory K; Irwin, Jonathan; Charbonneau, David ...
Nature (London),
11/2015, Letnik:
527, Številka:
7577
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
M-dwarf stars--hydrogen-burning stars that are smaller than 60 per cent of the size of the Sun--are the most common class of star in our Galaxy and outnumber Sun-like stars by a ratio of 12:1. Recent ...results have shown that M dwarfs host Earth-sized planets in great numbers: the average number of M-dwarf planets that are between 0.5 to 1.5 times the size of Earth is at least 1.4 per star. The nearest such planets known to transit their star are 39 parsecs away, too distant for detailed follow-up observations to measure the planetary masses or to study their atmospheres. Here we report observations of GJ 1132b, a planet with a size of 1.2 Earth radii that is transiting a small star 12 parsecs away. Our Doppler mass measurement of GJ 1132b yields a density consistent with an Earth-like bulk composition, similar to the compositions of the six known exoplanets with masses less than six times that of the Earth and precisely measured densities. Receiving 19 times more stellar radiation than the Earth, the planet is too hot to be habitable but is cool enough to support a substantial atmosphere, one that has probably been considerably depleted of hydrogen. Because the host star is nearby and only 21 per cent the radius of the Sun, existing and upcoming telescopes will be able to observe the composition and dynamics of the planetary atmosphere.
Exoplanets orbiting close to their parent stars may lose some fraction of their atmospheres because of the extreme irradiation. Atmospheric mass loss primarily affects low-mass exoplanets, leading to ...the suggestion that hot rocky planets might have begun as Neptune-like, but subsequently lost all of their atmospheres; however, no confident measurements have hitherto been available. The signature of this loss could be observed in the ultraviolet spectrum, when the planet and its escaping atmosphere transit the star, giving rise to deeper and longer transit signatures than in the optical spectrum. Here we report that in the ultraviolet the Neptune-mass exoplanet GJ 436b (also known as Gliese 436b) has transit depths of 56.3 ± 3.5% (1σ), far beyond the 0.69% optical transit depth. The ultraviolet transits repeatedly start about two hours before, and end more than three hours after the approximately one hour optical transit, which is substantially different from one previous claim (based on an inaccurate ephemeris). We infer from this that the planet is surrounded and trailed by a large exospheric cloud composed mainly of hydrogen atoms. We estimate a mass-loss rate in the range of about 10(8)-10(9) grams per second, which is far too small to deplete the atmosphere of a Neptune-like planet in the lifetime of the parent star, but would have been much greater in the past.
Context. Observations of exoplanets indicate the existence of several correlations in the architecture of planetary systems. Exoplanets within a system tend to be of similar size and mass, evenly ...spaced, and are often ordered in size and mass. Small planets are frequently packed in tight configurations, while large planets often have wider orbital spacing. Together, these correlations are called the peas in a pod trends in the architecture of planetary systems. Aims. In this paper these trends are investigated in theoretically simulated planetary systems and compared with observations. Whether these correlations emerge from astrophysical processes or the detection biases of the transit method is examined. Methods. Synthetic planetary system were simulated using the Generation III Bern Model. KOBE, a new computer code, simulates the geometrical limitations of the transit method and applies the detection biases and completeness of the Kepler survey. This allows simulated planetary systems to be compared with observations. Results. The architecture of synthetic planetary systems, observed via KOBE, show the peas in a pod trends in good agreement with observations. These correlations are also present in the theoretical underlying population, from the Bern Model, indicating that these trends are probably of astrophysical origin. Conclusions. The physical processes involved in planet formation are responsible for the emergence of evenly spaced planets with similar sizes and masses. The size–mass similarity trends are primordial and originate from the oligarchic growth of protoplanetary embryos and the uniform growth of planets at early times. Later stages in planet formation allows planets within a system to grow at different rates, thereby decreasing these correlations. The spacing and packing correlations are absent at early times and arise from dynamical interactions.
We introduce the BEBOP radial velocity survey for circumbinary planets. We initiated this survey using the CORALIE spectrograph on the Swiss
Euler
Telescope at La Silla, Chile. An intensive four-year ...observation campaign commenced in 2013, targeting 47 single-lined eclipsing binaries drawn from the EBLM survey for low mass eclipsing binaries. Our specific use of binaries with faint M dwarf companions avoids spectral contamination, providing observing conditions akin to single stars. By combining new BEBOP observations with existing ones from the EBLM programme, we report on the results of 1519 radial velocity measurements over timespans as long as eight years. For the best targets we are sensitive to planets down to 0.1
M
Jup
, and our median sensitivity is 0.4
M
Jup
. In this initial survey we do not detect any planetary mass companions. Nonetheless, we present the first constraints on the abundance of circumbinary companions, as a function of mass and period. A comparison of our results to
Kepler
’s detections indicates a dispersion of planetary orbital inclinations less than ~10°.
The EBLM Project Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Martin, David V.; Ségransan, Damien ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
12/2017, Letnik:
608
Journal Article
We report the discovery of two intermediate-mass transiting brown dwarfs (BDs), TOI-569b and TOI-1406b, from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. TOI-569b has an orbital period of P ...= 6.55604 0.00016 days, a mass of Mb = 64.1 1.9 , and a radius of Rb = 0.75 0.02 . Its host star, TOI-569, has a mass of M = 1.21 0.05 , a radius of R = 1.47 0.03 , dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 5768 110 K. TOI-1406b has an orbital period of P = 10.57415 0.00063 days, a mass of Mb = 46.0 2.7 , and a radius of Rb = 0.86 0.03 . The host star for this BD has a mass of M = 1.18 0.09 , a radius of R = 1.35 0.03 , dex, and an effective temperature of Teff = 6290 100 K. Both BDs are in circular orbits around their host stars and are older than 3 Gyr based on stellar isochrone models of the stars. TOI-569 is one of two slightly evolved stars known to host a transiting BD (the other being KOI-415). TOI-1406b is one of three known transiting BDs to occupy the mass range of 40-50 and one of two to have a circular orbit at a period near 10 days (with the first being KOI-205b). Both BDs have reliable ages from stellar isochrones, in addition to their well-constrained masses and radii, making them particularly valuable as tests for substellar isochrones in the BD mass-radius diagram.
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