Angular Momentum in Extrasolar Planetary Systems

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Planetary Systems

Scientific paper

As of July, 2008, over 300 extrasolar planets have been discovered. The study of the characteristics of exoplanets and their host stars can provide detailed information about planetary systems beyond our Solar System. This paper investigates the distribution of angular momentum in 28 extrasolar planetary systems. Only exoplanets detected with both transit and radial velocity measurements were included in the study to remove the uncertainty associated with unknown orbital inclination angles. The distribution of angular momentum between an exoplanet and its host star and between different extrasolar planetary systems was determined. It is clear from this study that the angular momentum per unit mass of the host stars is generally less than the average value for main-sequence stars of the same mass and that the angular momentum per unit mass of the complete extrasolar planetary system is generally greater. Also, more than 50% of the angular momentum in these systems resides in the exoplanet and in many cases it is more than 80%. To draw any general conclusions about the role of angular momentum in the planetary formation process will require additional work to understand and quantify the selection effects that result from the detection techniques used.

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