Extrasolar Planet Orbits and Eccentricities

Abstract

The known extrasolar planets exhibit many interesting and surprising features--extremely short-period orbits, high-eccentricity orbits, mean-motion and secular resonances, etc.--and have dramatically expanded our appreciation of the diversity of possible planetary systems. In this review we summarize the orbital properties of extrasolar planets. One of the most remarkable features of extrasolar planets is their high eccentricities, far larger than seen in the solar system. We review theoretical explanations for large eccentricities and point out the successes and shortcomings of existing theories.

10 pages including 3 figures, invited review at 'The Search for Other Worlds', Oct 2003, College Park, MD

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Shrinking binary and planetary orbits by Kozai cycles with tidal friction
• Structure and Evolution of Nearby Stars with Planets II. Physical Properties of ~1000 Cool Stars from the SPOCS Catalog
• Properties of planets in binary systems. The role of binary separation
• Tidally Heated Terrestrial Exoplanets: Viscoelastic Response Models
• On the Eccentricity Distribution of Exoplanets from Radial Velocity Surveys
• High Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets Induced by the Kozai Mechanism
• The Eccentricity-Mass Distribution of Exoplanets: Signatures of Different Formation Mechanisms?
• Astrometric Methods and Instrumentation to Identify and Characterize Extrasolar Planets: A Review
• The Chemical Compositions of Stars with Planets: A Review
• A Minimum-Mass Extrasolar Nebula
• Planet formation around stars of various masses: Hot super-Earths
• The SOPHIE search for northern extrasolar planets. IV. Massive companions in the planet-brown dwarf boundary
• On the Origin of the Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets
• The Role of Kozai Cycles in Near-Earth Binary Asteroids
• Eccentricities of Planets in Binary Systems
• Toward an understanding of the periastron puzzle of PSR B1259-63