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After my lab this afternoon I was unwinding by catching up on this paper. The short of it is, the authors have looked at the distribution of angular momentum in planetary systems with only one known planet and found a correlation with mass - those planets with mass greater than twice Jupiter's also have high specific angular momentum and vice versa.
They also found a correlation with the semi-major axis of the planet's orbit, which would be expected since planets with smaller orbits also tend to have lower mass. The hypothesis offered is that lower mass planets lose angular momentum more easily than higher mass planets and thus are more likely to migrate inwards.
Well, that is mostly summary. The graphs at the end of the paper illustrate the trend quite strongly. Of course, this paper does not look at multiple planet systems, but they promise to examine those in a future paper. I look forward to seeing if this finding persists.
And right now I have no idea what mechanism might be responsible, nor is one proposed. I wonder if it extends all the way down the mass scale and how many terrestrial worlds could have been swallowed by their sun?
A few other interesting looking papers were referenced in this one Hopefully I will have time to check them out too.
They also found a correlation with the semi-major axis of the planet's orbit, which would be expected since planets with smaller orbits also tend to have lower mass. The hypothesis offered is that lower mass planets lose angular momentum more easily than higher mass planets and thus are more likely to migrate inwards.
Well, that is mostly summary. The graphs at the end of the paper illustrate the trend quite strongly. Of course, this paper does not look at multiple planet systems, but they promise to examine those in a future paper. I look forward to seeing if this finding persists.
And right now I have no idea what mechanism might be responsible, nor is one proposed. I wonder if it extends all the way down the mass scale and how many terrestrial worlds could have been swallowed by their sun?
A few other interesting looking papers were referenced in this one Hopefully I will have time to check them out too.
