Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets by Repeated Resonance Crossings.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 1 1 0 3 8 4 v 2 5 D e c 2 0 0 1 Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets by Repeated Resonance Crossings E. I. Chiang, D. Fischer, E. Thommes Center for Integrative Planetary Sciences Astronomy Department University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720, USA echiang, fischer, ethommes@astron.berkeley.edu ABSTRACT Orbits of known extrasolar planets that are located outside the tidal circular- ization regions of their parent stars are often substantially eccentric. By contrast, planetary orbits in our Solar System are approximately circular, reflecting planet formation within a nearly axisymmetric, circumsolar disk. We propose that or- bital eccentricities may be generated by divergent orbital migration of two planets in a viscously accreting circumstellar disk. The migration is divergent in the sense that the ratio of the orbital period of the outer planet to that of the inner planet grows. As the period ratio diverges, the planets traverse, but are not captured into, a series of mean-motion resonances that amplify their orbital eccentricities in rough inverse proportion to their masses. Strong viscosity gradients in proto- planetary disks offer a way to reconcile the circular orbits of Solar System gas giants with the eccentric orbits of currently known extrasolar planets. Subject headings: celestial mechanics — planetary systems — accretion, accretion disks 1. INTRODUCTION Orbital eccentricities e, periods P , and semi-major axes a of extrasolar planetary systems are plotted in Figure 1. The rightmost four points at large P represent the gas and ice giants in our Solar System (Lodders Fegler 1998). The leftmost cluster of points at small P reflect tidal interactions between planets and stars that erased whatever primordial eccentricities these systems possessed (Lin et al. 2000). In the intermediate range of periods, orbital – 2 – Fig. 1.— Orbital eccentricities and periods of 64 planets. The semi-majo