Terrestrial and Habitable Planet Formation in Binary and Multi-star Systems

TL;DR

This paper reviews the challenges and prospects of terrestrial and habitable planet formation in binary and multi-star systems, emphasizing recent discoveries, theoretical modeling, and future detection techniques.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of planet formation theories in complex stellar environments and discusses recent observational advancements and their implications.

Findings

Detection of planets in close binary systems challenges existing theories.

Advancements in detection techniques like Kepler increase prospects for finding terrestrial planets.

Numerical models suggest habitable planets could form in binary systems.

Abstract

One of the most surprising discoveries of extrasolar planets is the detection of planets in moderately close binary star systems. The Jovian-type planets in the two binaries of Gamma Cephei and GJ 86 have brought to the forefront questions on the formation of giant planets and the possibility of the existence of smaller bodies in such dynamically complex environments. The diverse dynamical characteristics of these objects have made scientists wonder to what extent the current theories of planet formation can be applied to binaries and multiple star systems. At present, the sensitivity of the detection techniques does not allow routine discovery of Earth-sized bodies in binary systems. However, with the advancement of new techniques, and with the recent launch of CoRoT and the launch of Kepler in late 2008, the detection of more planets (possibly terrestrial-class objects) in such systems is on the horizon. Theoretical studies and numerical modeling of terrestrial and habitable planet formation are, therefore, necessary to gain fundamental insights into the prospects for life in such systems and have great strategic impact on NASA science and missions.