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Science 8 September 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5792, pp. 1413 - 1416
DOI: 10.1126/science.1130461
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Reports

Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration

Sean N. Raymond,1*{dagger}{ddagger} Avi M. Mandell,2,3*{dagger}{ddagger} Steinn Sigurdsson2{ddagger}

Close-in giant planets (e.g., "hot Jupiters") are thought to form far from their host stars and migrate inward, through the terrestrial planet zone, via torques with a massive gaseous disk. Here we simulate terrestrial planet growth during and after giant planet migration. Several-Earth-mass planets also form interior to the migrating jovian planet, analogous to recently discovered "hot Earths." Very-water-rich, Earth-mass planets form from surviving material outside the giant planet's orbit, often in the habitable zone and with low orbital eccentricities. More than a third of the known systems of giant planets may harbor Earth-like planets.

1 Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0392, USA.
2 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA16802, USA.
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} Member of NASA Astrobiology Institute.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: raymond{at}lasp.colorado.edu (S.N.R.), mandell{at}astro.psu.edu (A.M.M.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
New Worlds on the Horizon: Earth-Sized Planets Close to Other Stars.
E. Gaidos, N. Haghighipour, E. Agol, D. Latham, S. Raymond, and J. Rayner (2007)
Science 318, 210-213
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)