Mean Motion Resonances With Nearby Moons: An Unlikely Origin For The Gaps Observed In The Ring Around The Exoplanet J1407b

Abstract

With the use of numerical models, we investigate whether Mean Motion Resonances (MMR) with nearby moons to the J1407b ring system were the cause of the observed 0.0267AU wide gap located at 0.4AU. Only one location of a moon at 0.63AU (corresponding to a 2:1 MMR) was found to form a gap at 0.4AU over short time periods of less than 100yr. However, the proximity of a low mass moon (0.08 Earth masses) caused significant scattering of the outer ring edge at 0.6AU, along with the formation of an additional gap at the 3:2 MMR (0.485 AU), which is not consistent with observations. Further models with moons located at MMR 3:1, 4:1, 7:3 and 5:3 failed to form gaps at 0.4AU for time periods less than 100yr. Instead, gaps were formed in the ring at 3:2 and 2:1 MMR which resulted in gaps at radial locations between 0.44-0.56AU. Additionally, gaps also take longer than one orbital period of J1407b about the primary to form. Given that J1407b is on a highly eccentric orbit and is thought to strongly perturb the ring at apocentre it appears unlikely that gaps form due to MMR with nearby moons as opposed to embedded moons. Including an appropriate total mass of the ring equal to Earth a dampening effect was witnessed on the gap formation process, causing an increase in the time required to open a gap due to MMR. Therefore, we conclude the observed gap at 0.4 AU is unlikely to be caused by MMR with nearby moons.

References in corpus (32)

• The cosmological simulation code GADGET-2
• On the width and shape of gaps in protoplanetary disks
• High Resolution Submillimeter Constraints on Circumstellar Disk Structure
• Transit timing effects due to an exomoon
• Transit timing effects due to an exomoon II
• Exomoon habitability constrained by illumination and tidal heating
• Planetary Construction Zones in Occultation: Discovery of an Extrasolar Ring System Transiting a Young Sun-like Star and Future Prospects for Detecting Eclipses by Circumsecondary and Circumplanetary Disks
• Formation, Habitability, and Detection of Extrasolar Moons
• Modeling giant extrasolar ring systems in eclipse and the case of J1407b: sculpting by exomoons?
• The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons
• The population of propellers in Saturn's A Ring
• Physical characteristics and non-keplerian orbital motion of "propeller" moons embedded in Saturn's rings
• Ring Formation around Giant Planets by Tidal Disruption of a Single Passing Large Kuiper Belt Object
• Habitability of Earth-type Planets and Moons in the Kepler-16 System
• The B-ring's surface mass density from hidden density waves: Less than meets the eye?
• Migration of a moonlet in a ring of solid particles : Theory and application to Saturn's propellers
• Dynamical Effects on the Habitable Zone for Earth-like Exomoons
• The propeller and the frog
• The shape and dynamics of a heliotropic dusty ringlet in the Cassini Division
• OGLE-2015-BLG-1459L: The Challenges of Exo-Moon Microlensing
• On the radio detection of multiple-exomoon systems due to plasma torus sharing
• Towards Detection of Exoplanetary Rings Via Transit Photometry: Methodology and a Possible Candidate
• A recent origin for Saturn's rings from the collisional disruption of an icy moon
• Constraints on the size and dynamics of the J1407b ring system
• Search for rings and satellites around the exoplanet CoRoT-9b using Spitzer photometry
• On The Feasibility of Exomoon Detection Via Exoplanet Phase Curve Spectral Contrast
• Systematic Search for Rings around Kepler Planet Candidates: Constraints on Ring Size and Occurrence Rate
• Characterising exo-ringsystems around fast-rotating stars using the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect
• Constraining the period of the ringed secondary companion to the young star J1407 with photographic plates
• A modified "Type I migration" model for propeller moons in Saturn's rings
• Formation of a Propeller Structure by a Moonlet in a Dense Planetary Ring
• On the tidal environment of an outwardly migrated F-ring

Cited by in corpus (2)

• The Structure and Stability of Extended, Inclined Circumplanetary Disk or Ring Systems
• ALMA and NACO observations towards the young exoring transit system J1407 (V1400 Cen)