# Survivability of planetary systems in young and dense star clusters

## TL;DR

This study uses simulations of the Orion Trapezium star cluster to investigate how planetary systems evolve and produce free-floating planets, revealing that planetary loss mechanisms are largely independent of planet mass and initial orbit.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulation-based analysis of planetary survivability and free-floating planet production in a young, dense star cluster environment.

## Key findings

- 357 free-floating planets formed, with 281 leaving the cluster
- Planet loss driven mainly by stellar encounters and planetary scattering
- Mass distribution of free-floating planets matches that of bound planets

## Abstract

We perform a simulation using the Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment of the Orion Trapezium star cluster in which the evolution of the stars and the dynamics of planetary systems are taken into account. The initial conditions from earlier simulations were selected in which the size and mass distributions of the observed circumstellar disks in this cluster are satisfactorily reproduced. Four, five, or size planets per star were introduced in orbit around the 500 solar-like stars with a maximum orbital separation of 400au. Our study focuses on the production of free-floating planets. A total of 357 become unbound from a total of 2522 planets in the initial conditions of the simulation. Of these, 281 leave the cluster within the crossing timescale of the star cluster; the others remain bound to the cluster as free-floating intra-cluster planets. Five of these free-floating intra-cluster planets are captured at a later time by another star. The two main mechanisms by which planets are lost from their host star, ejection upon a strong encounter with another star or internal planetary scattering, drive the evaporation independent of planet mass of orbital separation at birth. The effect of small perturbations due to slow changes in the cluster potential are important for the evolution of planetary systems. In addition, the probability of a star to lose a planet is independent of the planet mass and independent of its initial orbital separation. As a consequence, the mass distribution of free-floating planets indistinguishable from the mass distribution of planets bound to their host star.