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Deciphering Origins of Close-in Gas Giants through Stellar Obliquity Distribution

Presentation #401.03 in the session Dynamics, Obliquities, and Tides.

Published onApr 03, 2024
Deciphering Origins of Close-in Gas Giants through Stellar Obliquity Distribution

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, despite its limitations in measuring only sky-projected stellar obliquities, has been integral in understanding exoplanetary systems. In this talk, we will first demonstrate that the population-level stellar obliquity distribution can be inferred purely from these projected obliquities, without requiring stellar inclination information, due to the predominant contribution of projected stellar obliquity to the constraint of true stellar obliquity. We will introduce a hierarchical Bayesian framework capable of inferring stellar obliquity at the population level (source code). When applied to exoplanetary systems with the RM-effect measurements, it revealed that misaligned systems are nearly isotropically distributed, with no significant clustering near 90 degrees. We find the deviation from Albrecht+21 results is attributed to biases in their sample selection. Lastly, we will interpret the stellar obliquity distribution to understand the origins of close-in gas giants. Our findings highlight planet-planet interactions as a significant mechanism in the formation of close-in gas giants.

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