Paper: astro-ph/0512635
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 02:20:11 GMT (23kb)

Title: What do Multiple Planet Systems Teach us about Planet Formation?

Authors: Eric B. Ford

Comments: 12 pages, to appear in Frank N. Bash Symposium 2005: New Horizons in
Astronomy
\\
For centuries, our knowledge of planetary systems and ideas about planet
formation were based on a single example, our solar system. During the last
thirteen years, the discovery of ~170 planetary systems has ushered in a new
era for astronomy. I review the surprising properties of extrasolar planetary
systems and discuss how they are reshaping theories of planet formation. I
focus on how multiple planet systems constrain the mechanisms proposed to
explain the large eccentricities typical of extrasolar planets. I suggest that
strong planet-planet scattering is common and most planetary systems underwent
a phase of large eccentricities. I propose that a planetary system's final
eccentricities may be strongly influenced by how much mass remains in a
planetesimal disk after the last strong planet-planet scattering event.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0512635 , 23kb)