Formation of Hot Planets by a Combination of Planet Scattering, Tidal Circularization, and the Kozai Mechanism

Abstract

We have investigated the formation of close-in extrasolar giant planets through a coupling effect of mutual scattering, the Kozai mechanism, and tidal circularization, by orbital integrations. Close-in gas giants would have been originally formed at several AU beyond the ice lines in protoplanetary disks and migrated close to their host stars. Although type II migration due to planet-disk interactions may be a major channel for the migration, we show that this scattering process would also give a nonnegligible contribution. We carried out orbital integrations of three planets with Jupiter mass, directly including the effect of tidal circularization. We have found that in about 30% of the runs close-in planets are formed, which is much higher than suggested by previous studies. Three-planet orbit crossing usually results in the ejection of one or two planets. Tidal circularization often occurs during three-planet orbit crossing, but previous studies have monitored only the final stage after the ejection, significantly underestimating the formation probability. We have found that the Kozai mechanism in outer planets is responsible for the formation of close-in planets. During three-planet orbital crossing, Kozai excitation is repeated and the eccentricity is often increased secularly to values close enough to unity for tidal circularization to transform the inner planet to a close-in planet. Since a moderate eccentricity can retain for the close-in planet, this mechanism may account for the observed close-in planets with moderate eccentricities and without nearby secondary planets. Since these planets also remain a broad range of orbital inclinations (even retrograde ones), the contribution of this process would be clarified by more observations of Rossiter-McLaughlin effects for transiting planets.