* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Free-floating super-Jupiters

Blobrana · L

Title: Interaction of free-floating planets with a star-planet pair
Authors: Harry Varvoglis, Vasiliki Sgardeli, Kleomenis Tsiganis

The recent discovery of free-floating planets and their theoretical interpretation as celestial bodies, either condensed independently or ejected from parent stars in tight clusters, introduced an intriguing possibility. Namely the existence of exoplanets not condensed from the protoplanetary disk of their parent star. In this novel scenario a free-floating planet interacts with an already existing planetary system, created in a tight cluster, and is captured as a new planet. In the present work we study this interaction process by integrating trajectories of planet-sized bodies, which encounter a binary system consisting of a Jupiter-sized planet revolving around a Sun-like star. To simplify the problem we assume coplanar orbits for the bound and the free-floating planet and an initially parabolic orbit for the free-floating planet. By calculating the uncertainty exponent, a quantity that measures the dependence of the final state of the system on small changes of the initial conditions, we show that the interaction process is a fractal classical scattering. In this way we see that the statistical approach we follow to tackle the problem is justified. The possible final outcomes of this interaction are only four, namely flyby, planet exchange, capture or disruption. We give the probability of each outcome as a function of the incoming planet's mass. %We also give the final %elements of the orbits of both planets as functions of the masses %and the elements of the orbit of the initially bound planet. We find that the probability of exchange or capture (in prograde as well as retrograde orbits and for very long times) is non-negligible, a fact that might explain the possible future observations of planetary systems with orbits either retrograde or tight and highly eccentric.

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Blobrana · L

Astronomer Bennetts team discovers new class of planets

University of Notre Dame astronomer David Bennett is co-author of a new paper describing the discovery of a new class of planets - dark, isolated Jupiter-mass bodies floating alone in space, far from any host star. Bennett and the team of astronomers involved in the discovery believe that the planets were most likely ejected from developing planetary systems.
The study is described in a paper appearing in the May 19 issue of the journal Nature.
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Blobrana · L

Title: Candidate free-floating super-Jupiters in the young sigma Orionis open cluster
Authors: G. Bihain, R. Rebolo, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, V. J. S. Béjar, I. Villó-Pérez, A. Díaz-Sánchez, A. Pérez-Garrido, J. A. Caballero, C. A. L. Bailer-Jones, D. Barrado y Navascués, J. Eislöffel, T. Forveille, B. Goldman, T. Henning, E. L. Martín, R. Mundt

Free-floating substellar candidates with estimated theoretical masses of as low as ~5 Jupiter masses have been found in the ~3 Myr old sigma Orionis open cluster. As the overlap with the planetary mass domain increases, the question of how these objects form becomes important. The determination of their number density and whether a mass cut-off limit exists is crucial to understanding their formation. We propose to search for objects of yet lower masses in the cluster and determine the shape of the mass function at low mass. Using new- and (re-analysed) published IZJHKs[3.6]-[8.0]-band data of an area of 840 arcmin2, we performed a search for LT-type cluster member candidates in the magnitude range J=19.5-21.5 mag, based on their expected magnitudes and colours. Besides recovering the T type object S Ori 70 and two other known objects, we find three new cluster member candidates, S Ori 72-74, with J=21 mag and within 12 arcmin of the cluster centre. They have theoretical masses of 4 (-2,+3) M_Jup and are among the least massive free-floating objects detected by direct imaging outside the Solar System. The photometry in archival Spitzer [3.6]-[5.8]-band images infers that S Ori 72 is an L/T transition candidate and S Ori 73 a T-type candidate, following the expected cluster sequence in the mid-infrared. Finally, the L-type candidate S Ori 74 with lower quality photometry is located at 11.8 arcsec (~4250 AU) of a stellar member of sigma Orionis and could be a companion. After contaminant correction in the area complete to J=21.1 mag, we estimate that there remain between zero and two cluster members in the mass interval 6-4 M_Jup. Our result suggests a possible turnover in the substellar mass spectrum below ~6 Jupiter masses, which should be investigated further by deeper photometric surveys.

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