Freiburg 2008 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 3: Planets and Small Bodies - Poster Session

EP 3.1: Poster

Monday, March 3, 2008, 17:30–19:00, Vorraum KGI-Aula

Stability of short period extrasolar planets in the face of tidal forces — •Ludmila Carone and Martin Pätzold — Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung, Abteilung Planetenforschung an der Universität zu Köln, Aachener Str. 209, 50931 Köln

Very close-in extrasolar planets are subject to strong tidal interactions with their host star. This may lead to the decay of the semi major axis and to an non-negligible spin-up of the star. The magnitude of tidal interactions, however, depends on the ratio of the stellar dissipation factor and the stellar Love number.

We were able to constrain the large uncertainties of this constants by simulating the evolution of the planetary system OGLE-TR-56b into the past and into the future thus gaining important insights into the inner structure of the host stars.

With better surveys and the operation of the first space mission CoRoT in search for extrasolar planets, we hope to refine our method. In preparation for the large numbers of short period planets to be detected we present a systematic study of the conditions for which short period planets can be expected depending on the stellar dissipation factor and the stellar Love number.