LONG RANGE OUTWARD MIGRATION OF GIANT PLANETS, WITH APPLICATION TO FOMALHAUT b

Journal Article · Tue Nov 10 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Astrophysical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/705/2/L148· OSTI ID:21378290

Crida, Aurelien ^[1]; Masset, Frederic ^[2]; Morbidelli, Alessandro ^[3]

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1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA (United Kingdom)
2. Laboratoire AIM-UMR 7158, CEA/CNRS/Universite Paris Diderot, IRFU/Service d'Astrophysique, CEA/Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)
3. Laboratoire Cassiopee UMR 6202, Universite de Nice Sophia-antipolis/Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur/CNRS, B.P. 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4 (France)

Recent observations of exoplanets by direct imaging reveal that giant planets orbit at a few dozens to more than a hundred AU from their central star. The question of the origin of these planets challenges the standard theories of planet formation. We propose a new way of obtaining such far planets, by outward migration of a pair of planets formed in the 10 AU region. Two giant planets in mean motion resonance in a common gap in the protoplanetary disk migrate outward, if the inner one is significantly more massive than the outer one. Using hydrodynamical simulations, we show that their semimajor axes can increase by almost 1 order of magnitude. In a flared disk, the pair of planets should reach an asymptotic radius. This mechanism could account for the presence of Fomalhaut b; then, a second, more massive planet, should be orbiting Fomalhaut at about 75 AU.

• OSTI ID: 21378290
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 705; ISSN 1538-4357
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
ORBITS
PLANETS
PROTOPLANETS
SIMULATION
STARS