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Constraints on planetary orbital evolution theories from detection of multiple transits

Holmelin, Viktor LU (2011) In Lund Observatory Examensarbeten ASTK01 20102
Lund Observatory - Undergoing reorganization
Abstract
As observations of planetary systems are published from the Kepler mission more constraints can be put on the theory of planetary formation and evolution. This in turn can be used to more accurately tell what really has been observed, such as the frequency and orbital parameters with which a six planet system like the one around Kepler-11 will occur. Even if a system has been observed to have four transiting planets it is not necessarily true that it only have four planets. Here a simple computer model is created for planetary systems consisting of a given number of planets with certain orbital parameters in order to calculate the frequency with which a certain number of transits will be seen. This is then tied to the data from the Kepler... (More)
As observations of planetary systems are published from the Kepler mission more constraints can be put on the theory of planetary formation and evolution. This in turn can be used to more accurately tell what really has been observed, such as the frequency and orbital parameters with which a six planet system like the one around Kepler-11 will occur. Even if a system has been observed to have four transiting planets it is not necessarily true that it only have four planets. Here a simple computer model is created for planetary systems consisting of a given number of planets with certain orbital parameters in order to calculate the frequency with which a certain number of transits will be seen. This is then tied to the data from the Kepler mission to make a rough prediction of the frequency for planetary systems with different number of planets. It is predicted that 3% of the observed systems have six planets, 13% have four planets and 14% have two planets. The other types of systems have very small and even negative prevalence.
The conclusion of this is that this model is too simple or the assumptions are wrong. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Holmelin, Viktor LU
supervisor
organization
course
ASTK01 20102
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
publication/series
Lund Observatory Examensarbeten
report number
2011-EXA49
language
English
id
2158539
date added to LUP
2011-09-16 16:17:41
date last changed
2011-09-16 16:17:41
@misc{2158539,
  abstract     = {{As observations of planetary systems are published from the Kepler mission more constraints can be put on the theory of planetary formation and evolution. This in turn can be used to more accurately tell what really has been observed, such as the frequency and orbital parameters with which a six planet system like the one around Kepler-11 will occur. Even if a system has been observed to have four transiting planets it is not necessarily true that it only have four planets. Here a simple computer model is created for planetary systems consisting of a given number of planets with certain orbital parameters in order to calculate the frequency with which a certain number of transits will be seen. This is then tied to the data from the Kepler mission to make a rough prediction of the frequency for planetary systems with different number of planets. It is predicted that 3% of the observed systems have six planets, 13% have four planets and 14% have two planets. The other types of systems have very small and even negative prevalence.
The conclusion of this is that this model is too simple or the assumptions are wrong.}},
  author       = {{Holmelin, Viktor}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Lund Observatory Examensarbeten}},
  title        = {{Constraints on planetary orbital evolution theories from detection of multiple transits}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}