The debris disk - terrestrial planet connection
arXiv:1104.2898 · doi:10.1017/S1743921311019983
Abstract
The eccentric orbits of the known extrasolar giant planets provide evidence that most planet-forming environments undergo violent dynamical instabilities. Here, we numerically simulate the impact of giant planet instabilities on planetary systems as a whole. We find that populations of inner rocky and outer icy bodies are both shaped by the giant planet dynamics and are naturally correlated. Strong instabilities -- those with very eccentric surviving giant planets -- completely clear out their inner and outer regions. In contrast, systems with stable or low-mass giant planets form terrestrial planets in their inner regions and outer icy bodies produce dust that is observable as debris disks at mid-infrared wavelengths. Fifteen to twenty percent of old stars are observed to have bright debris disks (at wavelengths of ~70 microns) and we predict that these signpost dynamically calm environments that should contain terrestrial planets.
Contribution to proceedings of IAU 276: Astrophysics of Planetary Systems
References in corpus (11)
- Dynamical Outcomes of Planet-Planet Scattering
- The Occurrence and Mass Distribution of Close-in Super-Earths, Neptunes, and Jupiters
- Debris disks around Sun-like stars
- Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration
- Evidence from the asteroid belt for a violent past evolution of Jupiter's orbit
- Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS): Properties of Debris Dust around Solar-type Stars
- Debris disks as signposts of terrestrial planet formation
- The History of the Solar System's Debris Disc: Observable Properties of the Kuiper Belt
- On the formation of terrestrial planets in hot-Jupiter systems
- Observational biases in determining extrasolar planet eccentricities in single-planet systems
- Predictions for the correlation between giant and terrestrial extrasolar planets in dynamically evolved systems