Extrasolar Planets in Disks
Planets strongly influence
structure in nearby circumstellar disks. Dynamical models might
be used to infer the presence of an undetected planet through
this interaction. This technique is complimentary to
radial velocity and transit techniques as we can probe
for planets in outer extrasolar systems and in young systems.
Our work includes also constraints on planetary embryos
in disks where they lack gaps or clearings and an estimate for the total
number of giant planets residing in debris disks with central clearings.
Our group has proposed models for 3 planets, outer planets
in the Fomalhaut, CoKuTau/4 system (now ruled out) and Epislon Eridani systems
(model now obsolete).
An object
in the Fomalhaut system was discovered but it might not be a planet.
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The prediction of a planet residing in the Fomalhaut system.
In 2008, an object was reported in an orbit at first thought to be
near that we predicted.
Predictions for a planet just inside Fomalhaut's eccentric ring,
PDF
We predicted in 2006 from the dust morphology that there is a massive planet
just interior to the dust ring
with mass in the range between Neptune and Saturn with
a semi-major axis of about 119AU, longitude of
periastron and eccentricity, 0.1, the same as the
eccentric dusty ring.
The scenario breaks the degeneracies of the pericenter glow model
by requiring the planet to account for both ring eccentricity
and clearing edge slope.
It is possible that the reported object is not a planet, has
an orbit that does not remain inside the dust clearing and that
planets have yet to be discovered in the Fomalhaut system.
- Better estimates for the mass of a planet capable of
truncating a collisional dusty disk such as Fomalhaut's,
Diffusive low optical depth particle disks truncated by planets,
PDF
- On how many giant planets there are in other systems; Peter's paper!
The Total Number of Giant Planets in Debris Disks with Central Clearings,
astroph
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How to estimate what kinds of planets can open gaps in accreting
circumstellar disks:
The Minimum Gap-opening Planet Mass in an Irradiated Circumstellar Accretion Disk,
astro-ph ,
PDF
- Predictions for the million year old planet and disk of CoKuTau/4,
On the Planet and the Disk of CoKuTau/4,
PDF While this planet is now
ruled out because this system is a stellar binary (work by Kraus
and Ireland), the model may
be applicable to other young systems with inner clearings.
- An early model for an extra-solar planet in the Epsilon Eridani system,
Structure in the Epsilon Eridani Dusty Disk Caused
by Mean Motion Resonances with a 0.3 Eccentricity Planet at Periastron,
PDF
This model is obsolete as Jane Greaves and collaborators showed
that some of the clumps modelled were background objects.