The Outcome of the Protoplanetary Disk of Very Massive Stars

TL;DR

This paper proposes that protoplanetary disks around very massive stars can fragment to form planetary systems composed of brown dwarfs and low-mass stars, which could be observable with future infrared telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that very massive stars can host planetary systems formed by disk fragmentation, a concept not previously emphasized in star formation theories.

Findings

Fragmentation around very massive stars can produce planetary systems.

Hundreds of Mercury-like planets may orbit at large distances (~1000 AU).

Such objects are potential targets for JWST and other IR telescopes.

Abstract

We suggest that planets, brown dwarfs, and even low mass stars can be formed by fragmentation of protoplanetary disks around very massive stars M>~100 solar masses. We discuss how fragmentation conditions make the formation of very massive planetary systems around very massive stars favorable. Such planetary systems are likely to be composed of brown dwarfs and low mass stars of ~0.1-0.3 solar masses, at orbital separations of ~ few x 100 - 10^4 AU. In particular, scaling from solar-like stars suggests that hundreds of Mercury-like planets might orbit very massive stars at ~1000 AU, where conditions might favor liquid water. Such fragmentation objects can be excellent targets for the James Webb Space Telescope and other large telescopes working in the IR bands. We predict that deep observations of very massive stars would reveal these fragmentation objects, orbiting in the same orbital plane in cases where there are more than one object.