Orbital migration and the brown dwarf desert

Philip J. Armitage; Ian A. Bonnell

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arXiv · astro-ph/0210195

Orbital migration and the brown dwarf desert

Philip J. Armitage·Ian A. Bonnell

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Abstract

The orbital elements of extreme mass ratio binaries will be modified by interactions with surrounding circumstellar disks. For brown dwarf companions to Solar-type stars the resulting orbital migration is sufficient to drive short period systems to merger, creating a brown dwarf desert at small separations. We highlight the similarities and the differences between the migration of brown dwarfs and massive extrasolar planets, and discuss how observations can test a migration model for the brown dwarf desert.

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Philip J. Armitage, Ian A. Bonnell. 2002-10-08. Orbital migration and the brown dwarf desert. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0210195

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