Irregular Extrasolar Systems and Dynamical Instability
Abstract
The astrometric search for extrasolar planetary systems can regard, at least in the first stage, only systems with high mass ratio (μ≈10-2) of the largest planets to the central star. The formation of such systems is probably a common occurrence in the galaxy, as indicated by various theoretical arguments; these systems could have evolved in a ‘regular’ way (near-circular and coplanar orbits, Titius-Bode law, etc.) until the most massive accumulating protoplanet exceeded the critical value of the mass ratio corresponding to dynamical instability. This phenomenon has been extensively investigated in recent years, showing that a three- orN-body system becomes unstable (for relative separations similar to the planetary ones) for μ>10-2. Therefore, it seems likely that observations of systems within this range of mass ratio will show the ‘irregular’ end-products of processes related to the instability (close encounters or ejections), which affected drastically the orbital configuration in the last phase of the planet formation.
- Publication:
-
Moon and Planets
- Pub Date:
- February 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1007/BF00896864
- Bibcode:
- 1980M&P....22...25F
- Keywords:
-
- Astrometry;
- Dynamic Stability;
- Extrasolar Planets;
- Astronomical Models;
- Planetary Systems;
- Protoplanets;
- Astronomy