Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2012-03-07
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ApJ Letters
Scientific paper
The eccentricity distribution of exoplanets is known from radial velocity surveys to be divergent from circular orbits beyond 0.1 AU. This is particularly the case for large planets where the radial velocity technique is most sensitive. The eccentricity of planetary orbits can have a large effect on the transit probability and subsequently the planet yield of transit surveys. The Kepler mission is the first transit survey that probes deep enough into period-space to allow this effect to be seen via the variation in transit durations. We use the Kepler planet candidates to show that the eccentricity distribution matches that found from radial velocity surveys to a high degree of confidence. We further show that the mean eccentricity of the Kepler candidates decreases with decreasing planet size indicating that smaller planets are preferentially found in low-eccentricity orbits.
Ciardi David R.
Gelino Dawn M.
Kane Stephen R.
von Braun Kaspar
No associations
LandOfFree
The Exoplanet Eccentricity Distribution from Kepler Planet Candidates does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Exoplanet Eccentricity Distribution from Kepler Planet Candidates, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Exoplanet Eccentricity Distribution from Kepler Planet Candidates will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-15888