Saturday, 23 April 2011

data analysis - Correlation of planet sizes with star sizes?

I think there are a number of studies that look at these statistics; I'll try to dig some out. In the meantime I can give you some further things to ponder.



First, let's assume a null hypothesis that the statistics and mass distribution of planets were independent of stellar mass - what would we observe?



Well one selection bias you don't mention is that the likelihood of transit detection depends on the ratio of planet to star size. This means you are less likely to see small planets around F-stars than M-stars. Or to put it another way, you expect the fraction of large planets to increase with stellar mass - as you have found.



It is quite likely that the material available to form planets is correlated with the stellar mass - in other words there is a correlation between stellar mass and protoplanetary disc mass. In which case it could be quite difficult for smaller stars to have the requisite protoplanetary disc density to form giant planets before the disc disperses.

No comments:

Post a Comment