Armstrong, David J., Osborn, Hugh P., Brown, D. J. A., Faedi, Francesca, Gómez Maqueo Chew, Y., Martin, David V., Pollacco, Don and Udry, S. (2014) On the abundance of circumbinary planets. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 444 (Number 2). pp. 1873-1883. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu1570 ISSN 0035-8711.

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Abstract

We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with Rp > 6R⊕ orbiting with Pp < 300 d is 10.0+18−6.5 per cent (95 per cent confidence limits), higher than but consistent with single star rates. If on the other hand the underlying planetary inclination distribution is isotropic, then this occurrence rate rises dramatically, to give a lower limit of 47 per cent. This implies that formation and subsequent dynamical evolution in circumbinary discs must either lead to largely coplanar planets, or proceed with significantly greater ease than in circumstellar discs. As a result of this investigation, we also show that giant planets ( > 10R⊕) are significantly less common in circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the Kepler sample is a real effect.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics
Journal or Publication Title:	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Official Date:	21 October 2014
Dates:	Date Event 21 October 2014 Published 3 September 2014 Available 1 August 2014 Accepted 13 April 2014 Submitted
Volume:	Volume 444
Number:	Number 2
Page Range:	pp. 1873-1883
DOI:	10.1093/mnras/stu1570
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
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