Influence of massive planet scattering on nascent terrestrial planets

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0501356

From: Dimitri Veras [view email]

Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:34:14 GMT   (17kb)

In most extrasolar planetary systems, the present orbits of known giant
planets admit the existence of stable terrestrial planets. Those same giant
planets, however, have typically eccentric orbits that hint at violent early
dynamics less benign for low mass planet formation. Under the assumption that
massive planet eccentricities are the end point of gravitational scattering in
multiple planet systems, we study the evolution of the building blocks of
terrestrial planets during the scattering process. We find that typically,
evolutionary sequences that result in a moderately eccentric giant planet
orbiting at a ~ 2.5 AU eject over 95% of the material initially present within
the habitable zone. Crossing orbits largely trigger the ejection, and leave the
surviving material with a wide dispersion in semi-major axis, eccentricity and
inclination. Based on these results, we predict that radial velocity follow-up
of terrestrial planet systems found by Kepler will find that these are
anti-correlated with the presence of eccentric giant planets orbiting at a few
AU.

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