Runaway Growth of Planetary Embryos Facilitated by Massive Bodies in a Protoplanetary Disk
Stephen J. Kortenkamp,12*
George W. Wetherill,2
Satoshi Inaba2
About 30% of detected extrasolar planets exist in
multiple-star systems. The standard model of planet formation cannot
easily accommodate such systems and has difficulty explaining the odd orbital characteristics of most extrasolar giant planets. We
demonstrate that the formation of terrestrial-size planets may be
insulated from these problems, enabling much of the framework of the
standard model to be salvaged for use in complex systems. A type of
runaway growth is identified that allows planetary embryos to form by a
combination of nebular gas drag and perturbations from massive companions--be they giant planets, brown dwarfs, or other stars.
1 Department of Astronomy, University of
Maryland, 1204 CSS Building, Stadium Drive, College Park, MD
20742-2421, USA.
2 Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road,
NW, Washington, DC 20015-1305, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
kortenka{at}astro.umd.edu
