Is our Sun a singleton?

All stars are formed in some form of cluster or association. These environments can have a much higher number density of stars than the field of the galaxy. Such crowded places are hostile environments: a large fraction of initially single stars will undergo close encounters with other stars or exch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physica scripta 2008-08, Vol.2008, p.014030
Main Authors: Davies, M B, Malmberg, D, Chambers, J E, Church, R P, Angeli, F De, Mackey, D, Wilkinson, M I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Fysik
Natural Sciences
Naturvetenskap
Physical Sciences
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:All stars are formed in some form of cluster or association. These environments can have a much higher number density of stars than the field of the galaxy. Such crowded places are hostile environments: a large fraction of initially single stars will undergo close encounters with other stars or exchange into binaries. We describe how such close encounters and exchange encounters will affect the properties of a planetary system around a single star. We define singletons as single stars which have 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, leading to strong planet-planet interactions, often leaving planets on tighter and more eccentric orbits. Thus, planetary systems which initially resembled our own solar system may later more closely resemble the observed exoplanetary systems.
ISSN:1402-4896
0031-8949
1402-4896
DOI:10.1088/0031-8949/2008/T130/014030