Exoplanets and Stellar Physics

Abstract:

According to current theories, tidal interactions between a disk and an embedded planet may lead to the rapid migration of the protoplanet on a timescale shorter than the disk lifetime or estimated planetary formation timescales. Therefore, planets can form only if there is a mechanism to hold at least some of the cores back on their way in. Once a giant planet has assembled, there also has to be a mechanism to prevent it from migrating down to the disk center. This paper reviews the different mechanisms that have been proposed to stop or slow down migration.

Abstract:

As a prerequisite for cosmological studies using adaptive optics techniques, we have begun to identify and characterize faint sources in the vicinity of bright stars at high Galactic latitudes. The initial phase of this work has been a program of K_s imaging conducted with SOFI at the ESO NTT. From observations of 42 southern fields evenly divided between the spring and autumn skies, we have identified 391 additional stars and 1589 galaxies lying at separations 60" from candidate guide stars in the magnitude range 9.0 R 12.4. When analyzed as a "discrete deep field" with 131 arcmin^2 area, our dataset gives galaxy number counts that agree with those derived previously over the range 16 K_s 20.5. This consistency indicates that in the aggregate, our fields should be suitable for future statistical studies. We provide our source catalogue as a resource for users of large telescopes in the southern hemisphere.

Abstract:

We calculate the linear torque exerted by a planet on a circular orbit on a disc containing a toroidal magnetic field. All fluid perturbations are singular at the so-called magnetic resonances, where the Doppler shifted frequency of the perturbation matches that of a slow MHD wave propagating along the field line. These lie on both sides of the corotation radius. Waves propagate outside the Lindblad resonances, and also in a restricted region around the magnetic resonances. The magnetic resonances contribute to a significant global torque which, like the Lindblad torque, is negative (positive) inside (outside) the planet's orbit. As these resonances are closer to the planet than the Lindblad resonances, the torque they contribute dominates over the Lindblad torque if the magnetic field is large enough. In addition, if β ≡ c²/vA² increases fast enough with radius, the outer magnetic resonance becomes less important and the total torque is then negative, dominated by the inner magnetic resonance. This leads to outward migration of the planet. Even for β ∼ 100 at corotation, a negative torque may be obtained. A planet migrating inward through a non-magnetized region of a disc would then stall when reaching a magnetized region. It would then be able to grow to become a terrestrial planet or the core of a giant planet. In a turbulent magnetized disc in which the large-scale field structure changes sufficiently slowly, a planet may alternate between inward and outward migration, depending on the gradients of the field encountered. Its migration could then become diffusive, or be limited only to small scales.