High-eccentricity migration is a likely formation mechanism for many observed hot Jupiters, particularly those with a large misalignment between the stellar spin axis and orbital angular momentum axis of the planet. In one version of high-eccentricity migration, an inclined stellar companion excites von Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai (ZLK) eccentricity oscillations of a cold Jupiter, and tidal dissipation causes the planet’s orbit to shrink and circularize. Throughout this process, the stellar spin can evolve chaotically, resulting in highly misaligned hot Jupiters (HJs). Previous population studies of this migration mechanism have assumed that the stellar spin is aligned with the planetary orbital angular momentum when the companion begins to induce ZLK oscillations. However, in the presence of a binary companion, the star’s obliquity may be significantly excited during the dissipation of its protoplanetary disk. We calculate the stellar obliquities produced in the protoplanetary disk phase and use these to perform an updated population synthesis of ZLK-driven high-eccentricity migration with an F-type host star. We find that the resulting obliquity distribution of HJ systems is predominantly retrograde with a broad peak near 90°. The distribution we obtain has intriguing similarities to the recently observed preponderance of perpendicular planets close to their host stars.
Exoplanetary observations reveal that the occurrence rate of hot Jupiters is correlated with star clustering. In star clusters, interactions between planetary systems and close flyby stars can significantly change the architecture of primordially coplanar, circular planetary systems. Flybys can impact hot Jupiter formation via activation of high-eccentricity excitation mechanisms such as the Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai (ZLK) effect and planet–planet scattering. Previous studies have shown that, for a two-planet system, close flybys, especially at high incidence angles, can efficiently activate the ZLK mechanism, thus triggering high-eccentricity tidal migration and ultimately form hot Jupiters. Here, we extend our previous study with a multiplanet (triple) system. We perform high-precision, high-accuracy few-body simulations of stellar flybys and subsequent planetary migration within the perturbed planetary systems using the code spacehub. Our simulations demonstrate that a single close flyby on a multiplanet system can activate secular chaos and ultimately lead to hot Jupiter formation via high-eccentricity migration. We find that the hot Jupiter formation rate per system increases with both the size of the planetary system and the mass of the outer planet, and we quantify the relative formation fractions for a range of parameters. Hot Jupiters formed via secular chaos are expected to be accompanied by more »
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10381234
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 509
- Issue:
- 4
- Page Range or eLocation-ID:
- p. 5253-5264
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The obliquity of a star, or the angle between its spin axis and the average orbit normal of its companion planets, provides a unique constraint on that system’s evolutionary history. Unlike the solar system, where the Sun’s equator is nearly aligned with its companion planets, many hot-Jupiter systems have been discovered with large spin–orbit misalignments, hosting planets on polar or retrograde orbits. We demonstrate that, in contrast to stars harboring hot Jupiters on circular orbits, those with eccentric companions follow no population-wide obliquity trend with stellar temperature. This finding can be naturally explained through a combination of high-eccentricity migration and tidal damping. Furthermore, we show that the joint obliquity and eccentricity distributions observed today are consistent with the outcomes of high-eccentricity migration, with no strict requirement to invoke the other hot-Jupiter formation mechanisms of disk migration or in situ formation. At a population-wide level, high-eccentricity migration can consistently shape the dynamical evolution of hot-Jupiter systems.
