EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS

Tidal transfer of angular momentum is expected to cause hot Jupiters to spiral into their host stars. Although the timescale for orbital decay is very uncertain, it should be faster for systems with larger and more evolved stars. Indeed, it is well established that hot Jupiters are found less freque...

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Main Authors: Winn, Joshua Nathan, Schlaufman, Kevin C
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: IOP Publishing 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89209
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5761-6779
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X
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author Winn, Joshua Nathan
Schlaufman, Kevin C
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Winn, Joshua Nathan
Schlaufman, Kevin C
author_sort Winn, Joshua Nathan
collection MIT
description Tidal transfer of angular momentum is expected to cause hot Jupiters to spiral into their host stars. Although the timescale for orbital decay is very uncertain, it should be faster for systems with larger and more evolved stars. Indeed, it is well established that hot Jupiters are found less frequently around subgiant stars than around main-sequence stars. However, the interpretation of this finding has been ambiguous, because the subgiants are also thought to be more massive than the F- and G-type stars that dominate the main-sequence sample. Consequently, it has been unclear whether the absence of hot Jupiters is due to tidal destruction or inhibited formation of those planets around massive stars. Here we show that the Galactic space motions of the planet-hosting subgiant stars demand that on average they be similar in mass to the planet-hosting main-sequence F- and G-type stars. Therefore the two samples are likely to differ only in age, and provide a glimpse of the same exoplanet population both before and after tidal evolution. As a result, the lack of hot Jupiters orbiting subgiants is clear evidence for their tidal destruction. Questions remain, though, about the interpretation of other reported differences between the planet populations around subgiants and main-sequence stars, such as their period and eccentricity distributions and overall occurrence rates.
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spelling mit-1721.1/892092022-10-01T19:46:26Z EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS Winn, Joshua Nathan Schlaufman, Kevin C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Schlaufman, Kevin C. Winn, Joshua Nathan Tidal transfer of angular momentum is expected to cause hot Jupiters to spiral into their host stars. Although the timescale for orbital decay is very uncertain, it should be faster for systems with larger and more evolved stars. Indeed, it is well established that hot Jupiters are found less frequently around subgiant stars than around main-sequence stars. However, the interpretation of this finding has been ambiguous, because the subgiants are also thought to be more massive than the F- and G-type stars that dominate the main-sequence sample. Consequently, it has been unclear whether the absence of hot Jupiters is due to tidal destruction or inhibited formation of those planets around massive stars. Here we show that the Galactic space motions of the planet-hosting subgiant stars demand that on average they be similar in mass to the planet-hosting main-sequence F- and G-type stars. Therefore the two samples are likely to differ only in age, and provide a glimpse of the same exoplanet population both before and after tidal evolution. As a result, the lack of hot Jupiters orbiting subgiants is clear evidence for their tidal destruction. Questions remain, though, about the interpretation of other reported differences between the planet populations around subgiants and main-sequence stars, such as their period and eccentricity distributions and overall occurrence rates. Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (Postdoctoral Fellowship) 2014-09-05T17:40:38Z 2014-09-05T17:40:38Z 2013-07 2013-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0004-637X 1538-4357 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89209 Schlaufman, Kevin C., and Joshua N. Winn. “EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS.” The Astrophysical Journal 772, no. 2 (July 17, 2013): 143. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5761-6779 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/772/2/143 The Astrophysical Journal Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf IOP Publishing arXiv
spellingShingle Winn, Joshua Nathan
Schlaufman, Kevin C
EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title_full EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title_fullStr EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title_full_unstemmed EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title_short EVIDENCE FOR THE TIDAL DESTRUCTION OF HOT JUPITERS BY SUBGIANT STARS
title_sort evidence for the tidal destruction of hot jupiters by subgiant stars
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89209
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5761-6779
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4265-047X
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