Eccentric warm Jupiters from exterior companions
Eccentric warm Jupiters from exterior companions
My recent work focuses on "warm Jupiters", which are similar to hot Jupiters, but with slightly longer orbital periods of 10-100 days. Like hot Jupiters, the formation histories of warm Jupiters are also unknown, and it unclear whether warm Jupiters arrive at their observed orbits via one of several proposed migration mechanisms, or whether they simply form in-situ.
Substantial eccentricities are observed in many warm Jupiters, which are difficult to explain with some proposed formation theories. In Anderson & Lai 2017, we investigate whether these eccentricities may arise from perturbations due to external giant planet companions. This research sheds insight into the dynamical role of observed companions to warm Jupiters, as well as helping to identify possible undetected companions to seemingly solitary eccentric warm Jupiters.
Observed eccentric warm Jupiters with detected external companions. By analyzing the secular dynamics of these two-planet systems, we identify the range of mutual inclinations which may produce the observed eccentricity. See Anderson & Lai 2017 for further details.