A limit on eccentricity growth from global 3-D simulations of disc-planet interactions

Abstract

We present high resolution 3-D simulations of the planet-disc interaction using smoothed particle hydrodynamics, to investigate the possibility of driving eccentricity growth by this mechanism. For models with a given disc viscosity (α= 0.01), we find that for small planet masses (a few Jupiter masses) and canonical surface densities, no significant eccentricity growth is seen over the duration of our simulations. This contrasts with the limiting case of large planet mass (over twenty Jupiter masses) and extremely high surface densities, where we find eccentricity growth in agreement with previously published results. We identify the cause of this as being a threshold surface density for a given planet mass below which eccentricity growth cannot be excited by this method. Further, the radial profile of the disc surface density is found to have a stronger effect on eccentricity growth than previously acknowledged, implying that care must be taken when contrasting results from different disc models. We discuss the implication of this result for real planets embedded in gaseous discs, and suggest that the disc-planet interaction does not contribute significantly to observed exoplanet eccentricities.