Internal Gravity Waves and Tidal Dissipation in Solar-Type Stars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Internal gravity waves are excited at the interface of convection and radiation zones of a solar-type star by the tidal forcing of a short-period planet. The fate of these waves as they approach the centre of the star depends on their amplitude. We present the results of numerical simulations of these waves approaching the centre of a star, and the resulting evolution of the spin of the central regions of the star, and the orbit of the planet. We complement this by also describing the results of a stability analysis of a tidally excited gravity wave. Our main result is that if the waves have large enough amplitudes to break, we find efficient tidal dissipation, which can threaten the survival of sufficiently massive short-period planets. If these waves have insufficient amplitude to break, they are gradually damped by parametric instabilities, which are, however, estimated to result in much weaker tidal dissipation. Our main conclusion is that the absence of wave breaking near the centre of a host star could provide an explanation for the survival of all short-period extrasolar planets observed around FGK stars. Additionally, this mechanism predicts the destruction of more massive planets, for which wave breaking is expected. This hypothesis will be tested by ongoing and future observations of transiting planets, such as WASP and Kepler.

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