2001/04/20 by M. B. Davies, Melvyn B. Davies, Steinn Sigurdsson +1 · 2 citations
Immunology and Microbiology · Physics and Astronomy · #Alexander von Humboldt Studies #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04336.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 324 (2001) 612 · 6 pages, 4 figures; accepted for MNRAS
arxiv created 2001/04/20 · openalex publication_date 2001/06/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We consider the survivability of planetary systems in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. We compute the cross-sections for the breakup of planetary systems via encounters with single stars and binaries. We also compute the cross-sections to leave planets on eccentric orbits. We find that wider planetary systems (d≳0.3 au) are likely to be broken up in the central regions of 47 Tucanae (within the half-mass radius of the cluster). However, tighter systems and those in less-dense regions may survive. Tight systems will certainly survive in less-dense clusters where subsequent surveys should be conducted.