Search for a circum-planetary material and orbital period variations of short-period Kepler exoplanet candidates [EPA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.1290


A unique short-period Mercury-size Kepler exoplanet candidate KIC012557548b has been discovered recently by Rappaport et al. (2012). This object is a transiting disintegrating exoplanet with a circum-planetary material – comet-like tail. Close-in exoplanets, like KIC012557548b, are subjected to the greatest planet-star interactions. This interaction may have various forms. In certain cases it may cause formation of the comet-like tail. Strong interaction with the host star, and/or presence of an additional planet may lead to variations in the orbital period of the planet. Our main aim is to search for comet-like tails similar to KIC012557548b and for long-term orbital period variations. We are curious about frequency of comet-like tail formation among short-period Kepler exoplanet candidates. We concentrate on a sample of 20 close-in candidates with a period similar to KIC012557548b from the Kepler mission.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Z. Garai, G. Zhou, J. Budaj, et. al.
Tue, 7 Oct 14
39/69

Comments: 19 pages, 75 figures, AN accepted