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Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants As Tracers of Planet Formation
Lurking in the Shadows: Wide-Separation Gas Giants as Tracers of Planet Formation Thesis by Marta Levesque Bryan In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California 2018 Defended May 1, 2018 ii © 2018 Marta Levesque Bryan ORCID: [0000-0002-6076-5967] All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank Heather Knutson, who I had the great privilege of working with as my thesis advisor. Her encouragement, guidance, and perspective helped me navigate many a challenging problem, and my conversations with her were a consistent source of positivity and learning throughout my time at Caltech. I leave graduate school a better scientist and person for having her as a role model. Heather fostered a wonderfully positive and supportive environment for her students, giving us the space to explore and grow - I could not have asked for a better advisor or research experience. I would also like to thank Konstantin Batygin for enthusiastic and illuminating discussions that always left me more excited to explore the result at hand. Thank you as well to Dimitri Mawet for providing both expertise and contagious optimism for some of my latest direct imaging endeavors. Thank you to the rest of my thesis committee, namely Geoff Blake, Evan Kirby, and Chuck Steidel for their support, helpful conversations, and insightful questions. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Brendan Bowler. His talk at Caltech my second year of graduate school introduced me to an unexpected population of massive wide-separation planetary-mass companions, and lead to a long-running collaboration from which several of my thesis projects were born. -
Dynamics and Stability of Telluric Planets Within the Habitable Zone of Extrasolar Planetary Systems
A&A 488, 1133–1147 (2008) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:200809822 & c ESO 2008 Astrophysics Dynamics and stability of telluric planets within the habitable zone of extrasolar planetary systems Numerical simulations of test particles within the HD 4208 and HD 70642 systems T. C. Hinse1,2, R. Michelsen1,U.G.Jørgensen1 ,K.Go´zdziewski3, and S. Mikkola4 1 Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Ø, Denmark e-mail: [tobiash; rm]@astro.ku.dk 2 Armagh Observatory, College Hill, BT61 9DG Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK 3 Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun Centre for Astronomy, Gagarin Str. 11, 87-100 Torun, Poland 4 Turku University Observatory, Väisäläntie 20, Piikkiö, Finland Received 20 March 2008 / Accepted 3 June 2008 ABSTRACT Aims. We study gravitational perturbation effects of observed giant extrasolar planets on hypothetical Earth-like planets in the context of the three-body problem. This paper considers a large parameter survey of different orbital configuration of two extrasolar giant planets (HD 70642b and HD 4208b) and compares their dynamical effect on Earth-mass planetary orbits initially located within the respective habitable terrestrial region. We are interested in determining giant-planet orbit (and mass) parameters that favor the condi- tion to render an Earth-mass planet to remain on a stable and bounded orbit within the continuous habitable zone. Methods. We applied symplectic numerical integration techniques to studying the short and long term time evolution of hypothetical Earth-mass planets that are treated as particles. In addition, we adopt the MEGNO technique to obtain a complete dynamical picture of the terrestrial phase space environment. -
Appendix 1 Some Astrophysical Reminders
Appendix 1 Some Astrophysical Reminders Marc Ollivier 1.1 A Physics and Astrophysics Overview 1.1.1 Star or Planet? Roughly speaking, we can say that the physics of stars and planets is mainly governed by their mass and thus by two effects: 1. Gravitation that tends to compress the object, thus releasing gravitational energy 2. Nuclear processes that start as the core temperature of the object increases The mass is thus a good parameter for classifying the different astrophysical objects, the adapted mass unit being the solar mass (written Ma). As the mass decreases, three categories of objects can be distinguished: ∼ 1. if M>0.08 Ma ( 80MJ where MJ is the Jupiter mass) the mass is sufficient and, as a consequence, the gravitational contraction in the core of the object is strong enough to start hydrogen fusion reactions. The object is then called a “star” and its radius is proportional to its mass. 2. If 0.013 Ma <M<0.08 Ma (13 MJ <M<80 MJ), the core temperature is not high enough for hydrogen fusion reactions, but does allow deuterium fu- sion reactions. The object is called a “brown dwarf” and its radius is inversely proportional to the cube root of its mass. 3. If M<0.013 Ma (M<13 MJ) the temperature a the center of the object does not permit any nuclear fusion reactions. The object is called a “planet”. In this category one distinguishes giant gaseous and telluric planets. This latter is not massive enough to accrete gas. The mass limit between giant and telluric planets is about 10 terrestrial masses. -