Alexandre C. M. Correia, Gwenaël Boué, Jacques Laskar
Planets close to their host stars are believed to undergo significant tidal
interactions, leading to a progressive damping of the orbital eccentricity.
Here we show that, when the orbit of the planet is excited by an outer
companion, tidal effects combined with gravitational interactions may give rise
to a secular increasing drift on the eccentricity. As long as this secular
drift counterbalances the damping effect, the eccentricity can increase to high
values. This mechanism may explain why some of the moderate close-in exoplanets
are observed with substantial eccentricity values.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.5486
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