Code of conduct

Upload instructions

What is exoplanet-talks.org?

News

Contributed talk at the virtual workshop Exoplanets Orbits & Dynamics hosted by University of Liege on Jan. 19-22, 2021. Workshop website: https://sites.google.com/view/exodynamics/home

Ultra-short period planets provide a look at the inner edge of the allowed parameter space for planetary orbits. One particularly intriguing geometry of system containing ultra-short period planets is high multiplicity systems where the ultra-short period planet and the outer planets exist in two different dynamical states. This has manifested in the observational data as a small number of stars hosting systems of tightly packed coplanar inner planets as well as an ultra-short period planet, where the orbit of the latter is misaligned relative to the mutual plane of the former. We describe two different mechanisms that can produce an ultra-short period planet that is misaligned with the rest of its compact planetary system: natural decoupling between the inner and outer system via the stellar quadrupole moment, and decoupling forced by an external companion with fine-tuned orbital parameters. These two processes operate at different timescales and can thus occur simultaneously or independently within a single system. We use the Kepler and TESS systems as examples to illustrate the dynamics of these two processes. We will also discuss the possibility of placing constraints on when ultra-short period planets in multi-planet systems arrive at their final orbital locations using the results of this work.

Juliette Becker: The Origins of Multi-Planet Systems with Misaligned, Nearby Companions