Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011ess.....2.1805h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, ESS meeting #2, #18.05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Since the discovery of the first transiting planet more than a decade ago, the search for Trojan planets has been a particular subject of interest. Despite a great deal of research in exploring the possibility of the detection of these objects, no Trojan planet has yet been found. However, the success of the Kepler space telescope in discovering several multiplanet transiting systems using transit timing variation method, and in identifying more than 1200 planetary candidates points to the great capability of this telescope in detecting Trojan objects. We have carried out an expansive study of the possibility of the detection of Trojan planet using transit timing variation method, and identified ranges of mass and orbital elements of these objects for which the TTV signal of a transiting giant planet due to its Trojan companion would fall within the range of the photometric sensitivity of Kepler. Given our interest in detecting habitable planets, we have focused our study on M stars where the habitable zone is in close distances. To explain the possible formation of such Trojan habitable planets, we have developed a planet formation-migration code and studied the formation of planets in resonances around M stars. While results point to the combination of giant planet migration and resonance capture as a favorable mechanism for the formation of terrestrial-class objects and super-Earths in resonance with short-period giant planets, they do not present this mechanism equally favorable for the formation of Trojan planets or satellites. However, an alternative, that is, the in-situ formation of Trojan planets around a Jovian-type body, and their simultaneous migration with this object seems to be a more promising scenario. We present the results of our study and discuss their implications for the detection of habitable Trojans using Kepler space telescope.
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