2019-07-10

UTAPwiki/セミナー/planet lunch
担当者：Hayashi, Toshinori
時間　：12:15-13:00
場所　：理学部1号館908室
内容：Exomoons orbiting terrestrial or super-terrestrial exoplanets have not yet been discovered; their possible existence and properties are therefore still an unresolved question. Here we explore the collisional formation of exomoons through giant planetary impacts. We make use of smooth particle hydrodynamical (SPH) collision simulations and survey a large phase-space of terrestrial/super-terrestrial planetary collisions. We characterize the properties of such collisions, including the debris mass, the long-term tidal-stability and the expected properties of the formed exomoons. We find our giant-impact models to generate relatively iron-rich massive disks, however even under the most optimistic assumptions these disks would not form exomoons exceeding ~Mars mass. Most of the modelled exomoons are likely to form beyond the synchronous radius of the planet, and would tidally evolve outward rather than be destroyed. We also find one rare case in which an exomoon forms through a graze \& capture scenario between a super-Earth and an Earth-sized planet. The result is an intact, planet-sized exomoon, containing about half the mass of the Earth. Our results suggest that it is extremely difficult to collisionally form currently-detectable exomoons orbiting super-terrestrial planets, through single giant impacts. It might be possible to form more massive, detectable exomoons through several mergers of smaller exomoons, formed by multiple impacts, however more studies are required in order to reach a conclusion. Given the current observational initiatives, the search should focus on more massive planet categories. However, typical exomoons predicted by our models are very likely to be detectable, given an order of magnitude improvement in the detection capability of future instruments.