Fast Rotating Stars eat Their Short Period Exoplanets

Why is there a Dearth of Close-In Planets around Fast-Rotating stars?

Authors:

Teitler et al

Abstract:

We propose that the reported dearth of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) with orbital periods Porb≲2−3days around stars with rotation periods Prot≲5−10days can be attributed to tidal ingestion of close-in planets by their host stars. We show that the planet distribution in this region of the logPorb−logProt plane is qualitatively reproduced with a model that incorporates tidal interaction and magnetic braking as well as the dependence on the stellar core--envelope coupling timescale. We demonstrate the consistency of this scenario with the inferred break in the Porb distribution of close-in KOIs and point out a potentially testable prediction of this interpretation.