Black Hole Singularities and Planetary Formation

The goal of this research is to explore the effects of black hole singularities. Methodology is to start with large objects like galaxies and continue to smaller objects within our solar neighbourhood. High-redshift observations from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal that distant galaxies and their central black holes formed shortly after the Big Bang. An innovation about the speed of light explains how supermassive black holes could have formed primordially. Predictions of Hawking radiation include the possibility of black holes contributing to the energy of stars such as the Sun. Black holes have also been suggested as a source of radiation and magnetic fields in giant planets. Observations of Enceladus raise the possibility that this moon and other objects near Saturn’s Rings contain small singularities. Extrapolations of this methodology indicate that black holes could exist within solar system bodies including planets. Extended discussion describes how their presence could explain mysteries of internal heat, planetary magnetic fields, and processes of solar system formation.

Population synthesis of planet formation using a torque formula with dynamic effects

Population synthesis studies into planet formation have suggested that distributions consistent with observations can only be reproduced if the actual Type Ⅰ migration timescale is at least an order of magnitude longer than that deduced from linear theories.Although past studies considered the effect of the Type I migration of protoplanetary embryos,in most cases they used a conventional formula based on static torques in isothermal disks,and employed a reduction factor to account for uncertainty in the mechanism details.However,in addition to static torques,a migrating planet experiences dynamic torques that are proportional to the migration rate.These dynamic torques can impact on planet migration and predicted planetary populations.In this study,we derived a new torque formula for Type Ⅰ migration by taking into account dynamic corrections.This formula was used to perform population synthesis simulations with and without the effect of dynamic torques.In many cases,inward migration was slowed significantly by the dynamic effects.For the static torque case,gas giant formation was effectively suppressed by Type I migration;however,when dynamic effects were considered,a substantial fraction of cores survived and grew into gas giants.

Forming different planetary systems

With the increasing number of detected exoplanet samples, the statistical properties of planetary systems have become much clearer. In this review, we sum- marize the major statistical results that have been revealed mainly by radial velocity and transiting observations, and try to interpret them within the scope of the classical core-accretion scenario of planet formation, especially in the formation of different orbital architectures for planetary systems around main sequence stars. Based on the different possible formation routes for different planet systems, we tentatively classify them into three major catalogs： hot Jupiter systems, standard systems and distant giant planet systems. The standard systems can be further categorized into three sub-types under different circumstances： solar-like systems, hot Super-Earth systems, and sub- giant planet systems. We also review the theory of planet detection and formation in binary systems as well as planets in star clusters.

A numerical study of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks

The effect of self-gravity on protoplanetary disks is investigated.The mechanisms of angular momentum transport and energy dissipation are assumed to be the viscosity due to turbulence in the accretion disk.The energy equation is considered in a situation where the released energy by viscosity dissipation is balanced with cooling processes.The viscosity is obtained by equality of dissipation and cooling functions,and is used to derive the angular momentum equation.The cooling rate of the flow is calculated by a prescription,du/dt = u/τ cool,where u and τ cool are the internal energy and cooling timescale,respectively.The ratio of local cooling to dynamical timescales Ωτ cool is assumed to be a constant and also a function of the local temperature.The solutions for protoplanetary disks show that in the case of Ωτ cool = constant,the disk does not exhibit any gravitational instability over small radii for a typical mass accretion rate,˙ M = 10 6 M yr 1,but when choosing Ωτ cool to be a function of temperature,gravitational instability can occur for this value of mass accretion rate or even less in small radii.Also,by studying the viscosity parameter α,we find that the strength of turbulence in the inner part of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks is very low.These results are qualitatively consistent with direct numerical simulations of protoplanetary disks.Also,in the case of cooling with temperature dependence,the effect of physical parameters on the structure of the disk is investigated.These solutions demonstrate that disk thickness and the Toomre parameter decrease by adding the ratio of disk mass to central object mass.However,the disk thickness and the Toomre parameter increase by adding mass accretion rate.Furthermore,for typical input parameters such as mass accretion rate 10 6 M yr 1,the ratio of the specific heat γ = 5/3 and the ratio of disk mass to central object mass q = 0.1,gravitational instability can occur over the whole radius of the disk excluding the region very near the central object.

Gap formation in a self-gravitating disk and the associated migration of the embedded giant planet

We present the results of our recent study on the interactions between a giant planet and a self-gravitating gas disk. We investigate how the disk＇s self-gravity affects the gap formation process and the migration of the giant planet. Two series of 1-D and 2-D hydrodynamic simulations are performed. We select several surface densities and focus on the gravitationally stable region. To obtain more reliable gravity torques exerted on the planet, a refined treatment of the disk＇s gravity is adopted in the vicinity of the planet. Our results indicate that the net effect of the disk＇s self- gravity on the gap formation process depends on the surface density of the disk. We notice that there are two critical values, ∑I and ∑n. When the surface density of the disk is lower than the first one,∑0 〈 ∑I, the effect of self-gravity suppresses the formation of a gap. When ∑0 〉 ∑I, the self-gravity of the gas tends to benefit the gap formation process and enlarges the width/depth of the gap. According to our 1-D and 2-D simulations, we estimate the first critical surface density to be ∑I ≈ 0.8 MMSN. This effect increases until the surface density reaches the second critical value ∑n- When ∑0 〉 ∑n, the gravitational turbulence in the disk becomes dominant and the gap formation process is suppressed again. Our 2-D simulations show that this critical surface density is around 3.5 MMSN. We also study the associated orbital evolution of a giant planet. Under the effect of the disk＇s self-gravity, the migration rate of the giant planet increases when the disk is dominated by gravitational turbulence. We show that the migration timescale correlates with the effective viscosity and can be up to 104 yr.

Delay of planet formation at large radius and the outward decrease in mass and gas content of Jovian planets

A prominent observation of the solar system is that the mass and gas content of Jovian planets decrease outward with orbital radius, except that, in terms of these properties, Neptune is almost the same as Uranus. In previous studies, the solar nebula was assumed to preexist and the formation process of the solar nebula was not considered. It was therefore assumed that planet formation at different radii started at the same time in the solar nebula. We show that planet formation at different radii does not start at the same time and is delayed at large radii. We suggest that this delay might be one of the factors that causes the outward decrease in the masses of Jovian planets. The nebula starts to form from its inner part because of the inside-out collapse of its progenitorial molecular cloud core. The nebula then expands outward due to viscosity. Material first reaches a small radius and then reaches a larger radius, so planet formation is delayed at the large radius. The later the material reaches a planet＇s location, the less time it has to gain mass and gas content. Hence, the delay tends to cause the outward decrease in mass and gas content of Jovian planets. Our nebula model shows that the material reaches Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune at t = 0.40, 0.57, 1.50 and 6.29 × 10^6 yr, respectively. We discuss the effects of time delay on the masses of Jovian planets in the framework of the core accretion model of planet formation. Saturn＇s formation is not delayed by much time relative to Jupiter so that they both reach the rapid gas accretion phase and become gas giants. However, the delay in formation of Uranus and Neptune is long and might be one of the factors that cause them not to reach the rapid gas accretion phase before the gas nebula is dispersed. Saturn has less time to go through the rapid gas accretion, so Saturn＇s mass and gas content are significantly less than those of Jupiter.

FGK 22 μm excess stars in LAMOST DR2 stellar catalog

Since the release of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope（LAMOST）catalog, we have had the opportunity to use the LAMOST DR2 stellar catalog and the WISE All-Sky Data Release catalog to search for 22 μm excess candidates. In this paper, we present 10 FGK candidates which show an excess in the infrared at 22 μm. All the 10 sources are newly identified 22 μm excess candidates.Of these 10 stars, five stars are F type and five stars are G type. The criterion for selecting candidates is Ks[22].387. In addition, we present the spectral energy distributions covering wavelengths from the optic-≥0al to mid-infrared band. Most of them show an obvious excess from the 12 μm band and three candidates even show excess from 3.4 μm. To characterize the amount of dust, we also estimate the fractional luminosity of10 22 μm excess candidates.

Debris disks: seeing dust, thinking of planetesimals and planets

Debris disks are optically thin, almost gas-free dusty disks observed arounda significant fraction of main-sequence stars older than about 10 Myr. Since the circumstellar dust is short-lived, the very existence of these disks is considered as evi-dence that dust-producing planetesimals are still present in mature systems, in whichplanets have formed – or failed to form – a long time ago. It is inferred that theseplanetesimals orbit their host stars at asteroid to Kuiper-belt distances and continuallysupply fresh dust through mutual collisions. This review outlines observational techniques and results on debris disks, summarizes their essential physics and theoreticalmodels, and then places them into the general context of planetary systems, uncovering interrelations between the disks, dust parent bodies, and planets. It is shownthat debris disks can serve as tracers of planetesimals and planets and shed light onthe planetesimal and planet formation processes that operated in these systems in thepast.

Multi-planet extrasolar systems-detection and dynamics

20 years after the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system, the current exoplanetary population includes more than 700 confirmed planets around main sequence stars. Approximately 50% belong to multiple-planet systems in very diverse dynamical configurations, from two-planet hierarchical systems to multiple resonances that could only have been attained as the consequence of a smooth large- scale orbital migration. The first part of this paper reviews the main detection tech- niques employed for the detection and orbital characterization of multiple-planet sys- tems, from the （now） classical radial velocity （RV） method to the use of transit time variations （TTV） for the identification of additional planetary bodies orbiting the same star. In the second part we discuss the dynamical evolution of multi-planet systems due to their mutual gravitational interactions. We analyze possible modes of motion for hi- erarchical, secular or resonant configurations, and what stability criteria can be defined in each case. In some cases, the dynamics can be well approximated by simple ana- lytical expressions for the Hamiltonian function, while other configurations can only be studied with semi-analytical or numerical tools. In particular, we show how mean- motion resonances can generate complex structures in the phase space where different libration islands and circulation domains are separated by chaotic layers. In all cases we use real exoplanetary systems as working examples.

Near-infrared imaging survey of faint companions around young dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster

We conducted a near-infrared imaging survey of 11 young dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster using the Subaru Telescope and the near-infrared coronagraph imager. We found ten faint point sources,with magnitudes as faint as 20 mag in the K-band,with around seven dwarfs.Comparison with the Spitzer archive images revealed that a pair of the faint sources around V 1171 Tau is very red in infrared wavelengths,which indicates very low-mass young stellar objects.However,the results of our follow-up proper motion measurements implied that the central star and the faint sources do not share common proper motions,suggesting that they are not physically associated.

The density and temperature dependence of the cooling timescale for fragmentation of self-gravitating disks

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influences of cooling timescale on fragmentation of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks. We assume the cooling timescale, expressed in terms of the dynamical timescale Ω tcool, has a power-law dependence on temperature and density, Ω toool ∝∑-aT-b, where a and b are con- stants. We use this cooling timescale in a simple prescription for the cooling rate, du/dt = -u/tcoll, where u is the internal energy. We perform our simulations using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. The simulations demonstrate that the disk is very sensitive to the cooling timescale, which depends on density and tem- perature. Under such a cooling timescale, the disk becomes gravitationally unstable and clumps form in the disk. This property even occurs for cooling timescales which are much longer than the critical cooling timescale, Ω toool≥ 7. We show that by adding the dependence of a cooling timescale on temperature and density, the number of clumps increases and the clumps can also form at smaller radii. The simulations im- ply that the sensitivity of a cooling timescale to density is more than to temperature, because even for a small dependence of the cooling timescale on density, clumps can still form in the disk. However, when the cooling timescale has a large dependence on temperature, clumps form in the disk. We also consider the effects of artificial viscos- ity parameters on fragmentation conditions. This consideration is performed in two cases, where Ω tcool is a constant and Ω tcool is a function of density and temperature. The simulations consider both cases, and results show the artificial viscosity param- eters have rather similar effects. For example, using too small of values for linear and quadratic terms in artificial viscosity can suppress the gravitational instability and consequently the efficiency of the clump formation process decreases. This property is consistent with recent simulations of self-gravitating disks. We perform simulations with and without the Balsara form of artificial viscosity. We find that in the cooling and self-gravitating disks without the Balsara switch, the clumps can form more easily than those with the Balsara switch. Moreover, in both cases where the Balsara switch is present or absent, the simulations show that the cooling timescale strongly depends on density and temperature.

Tidal evolution of exo-planetary systems:WASP-50,GJ 1214 and CoRoT-7

We perform numerical simulations to investigate tidal evolution of two single-planet systems, that is, WASP-50 and GJ 1214 and a two-planet system CoRoT-7. The results of orbital evolution show that tidal decay and circularization may play a significant role in shaping their final orbits, which is related to the initial orbital data in the simulations. For GJ 1214 system, different cases of initial eccentricity are also considered as only an upper limit of its eccentricity （0.27） is shown, and the outcome suggests a possible maximum initial eccentricity （0.4） in the adopted dynamical model. Moreover, additional runs with alternative values of dissipation factor Q＇I are carried out to explore tidal evolution for GJ 1214b, and these results further indicate that the real Q＇1 of GJ 1214b may be much larger than its typical value, which may reasonably suggest that GJ 1214b bears a present-day larger eccentricity, undergoing tidal circularization at a slow rate. For the CoRoT-7 system, tidal forces make two planets migrating towards their host star as well as producing tidal circularization, and in this process tidal effects and mutual gravitational interactions are coupled with each other. Various scenarios of the initial eccentricity of the outer planet have also been done to investigate final planetary configuration. Tidal decay arising from stellar tides may still work for each system as the eccentricity decreases to zero, and this is in association with the remaining lifetime of each planet used to predict its future.