Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE SPIN-ORBIT MISALIGNMENT ALONG THE LINE OF SIGHT IN TRANSITING EXOPLANET SYSTEMS
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Author | Schlaufman, Kevin C. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Description | Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Of the 26 transiting exoplanet systems with measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, eight have now been found to be significantly spin-orbit misaligned in the plane of the sky (i.e., RM misalignment angle |λ| 30° and inconsistent with λ = 0°). Unfortunately, the RM effect does not constrain the complement misalignment angle between the orbit of the planet and the spin of its host star along the line of sight (LOS). I use a simple model of stellar rotation benchmarked with observational data to statistically identify 10 exoplanet systems from a sample of 75 for which there is likely a significant degree of spin-orbit misalignment along the LOS: HAT-P-7, HAT-P-14, HAT-P-16, HD 17156, Kepler-5, Kepler-7, TrES-4, WASP-1, WASP-12, and WASP-14. All 10 systems have host stellar masses M$ _{*}$ in the range 1.2 M$ _{☉}$ M$ _{*}$ 1.5 M$ _{☉}$, and the probability of this occurrence by chance is less than one in ten thousand. In addition, the planets in the candidate-misaligned systems are preferentially massive and eccentric. The coupled distribution of misalignment from the RM effect and from this analysis suggests that transiting exoplanets are more likely to be spin-orbit aligned than expected given predictions for a transiting planet population produced entirely by planet-planet scattering or Kozai cycles and tidal friction. For that reason, there are likely two populations of close-in exoplanet systems: a population of aligned systems and a population of apparently misaligned systems in which the processes that lead to misalignment or to the survival of misaligned systems operate more efficiently in systems with massive stars and planets. |
| Related Links | http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/602/pdf |
| Ending Page | 611 |
| Page Count | 10 |
| Starting Page | 602 |
| ISSN | 0004637X |
| DOI | 10.1088/0004-637x/719/1/602 |
| Journal | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Issue Number | 1 |
| Volume Number | 719 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing |
| Publisher Date | 2010-07-21 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Transiting Exoplanet Exoplanet Systems |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Astronomy and Astrophysics Space and Planetary Science |
