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Is our Sun a Singleton?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2007

D. Malmberg
Affiliation:
Lund Observatory, Box 43, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden email: [email protected]
M. B. Davies
Affiliation:
Lund Observatory, Box 43, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden email: [email protected]
J. E. Chambers
Affiliation:
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington DC 20015, USA
F. De Angeli
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK
R. P. Church
Affiliation:
Lund Observatory, Box 43, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden email: [email protected]
D. Mackey
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
M. I. Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
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Abstract

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Most stars are formed in a cluster or association, where the number density of stars can be high. This means that a large fraction of initially-single stars will undergo close encounters with other stars and/or exchange into binaries. We describe how such close encounters and exchange encounters can affect the properties of a planetary system around a single star. We define a singleton as a single star which has never suffered close encounters with other stars or spent time within a binary system. It may be that planetary systems similar to our own solar system can only survive around singletons. Close encounters or the presence of a stellar companion will perturb the planetary system, often leaving planets on tighter and more eccentric orbits. Thus planetary systems which initially resembled our own solar system may later more closely resemble some of the observed exoplanet systems.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

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