Julia Fang, Jean-Luc Margot
We investigate whether any multi-planet systems among Kepler candidates can
harbor additional terrestrial-mass planets or smaller bodies. We apply the
"packed planetary systems" hypothesis that suggests all planetary systems are
filled to capacity, and use a Hill stability criterion to identify eight
2-planet systems with significant gaps between the innermost and outermost
planets. For each of these systems, we perform long-term numerical integrations
of 10^7 years to investigate the stability of 4000-8000 test particles injected
into the gaps. We map out stability regions in orbital parameter space, and
therefore quantify the ranges of semi-major axes and eccentricities of stable
particles. Strong mean-motion resonances can add additional regions of
stability in otherwise unstable parameter space. We predict that Kepler
candidate systems including KOI 433, KOI 72/Kepler-10, KOI 555, KOI 1596, KOI
904, KOI 223, KOI 1590, and KOI 139 can harbor additional planets or low-mass
bodies between the inner and outer detected planets. These predicted planets
lie in parameter space that may be detected by future observations.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.0337
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