Dependence of Small Planet Frequency on Stellar Metallicity Hidden by Their Prevalence
- Creators
- Zhu, Wei
- Wang, Ji
- Huang, Chelsea
Abstract
The dependence of gas giant planet occurrence rate on stellar metallicity has been firmly established. We extend this so-called planet–metallicity correlation to broader ranges of metallicities and planet masses/radii. In particular, we assume that the planet–metallicity correlation is a power law below some critical saturation threshold, and that the probability of hosting at least one planet is unity for stars with metallicity above the threshold. We then are able to explain the discrepancy between the tentative detection and null detection in previous studies regarding the planet–metallicity correlation for small planets. In particular, we find that the null detection of this correlation can be attributed to the combination of high planet occurrence rate and low detection efficiency. Therefore, a planet–metallicity correlation for small planets cannot be ruled out. We propose that stars with metallicities lower than the solar value are better targets for testing the planet–metallicity correlation for small planets.
Additional Information
© 2016 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2016 May 12; revised 2016 August 15; accepted 2016 September 13; published 2016 December 1. We would like to thank Yanqing Wu, Norm Murray, and especially Scott Gaudi for stimulating discussions. We thank Andy Gould and Scott Gaudi for comments on the manuscript. WZ would like to thank the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto for its hospitality. The Dunlap Institute is funded through an endowment established by the David Dunlap family and the University of Toronto. We offer our thanks and praise to the extraordinary scientists, engineers and individuals who have made the Kepler Mission possible. WZ acknowledges the support from NSF grant AST-1516842. JW acknowledges the support from JPL RSA No.1533314.Attached Files
Published - Zhu_2016_ApJ_832_196.pdf
Submitted - 1605.04310v2.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 73519
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170117-095509136
- AST-1516842
- NSF
- 1533314
- JPL
- Created
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2017-01-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field