Constraining the nature of the possible extrasolar PDS110b ring system

The young star PDS110 in the Ori OB1a association underwent two similar eclipses in 2008 and 2011, each of which lasted for a period of at least 25 days. One plausible explanation for these events is that the star was eclipsed by an unseen giant planet (named PDS110b) circled by a ring system that fills a large fraction of its Hill sphere. Through thousands of numerical simulations of the three-body problem, we constrain the mass and eccentricity of this planet as well the size and inclination of its ring, parameters that are not well determined by the observational data alone. We carried out a broad range of different configurations for the PDS110b ring system and ruled out all that did not match with the observations. The result shows that the ring system could be prograde or retrograde; the preferred solution is that the ring has an inclination lower than 60 degrees and a radius between 0.1 and 0.2 au and that the planet is more massive than 35 M-Jup and has a low eccentricity (<0.05).

Automated summary

The young star PDS110 in the Ori OB1a association experienced two similar eclipses in 2008 and 2011, possibly caused by an unseen giant planet with a ring system. Through numerical simulations, the mass, eccentricity, size, and inclination of this planet's ring were constrained, ruling out configurations that did not match observations. The preferred solution suggests the ring has an inclination of less than 60 degrees, a radius between 0.1 and 0.2 au, with the planet being more massive than 35 M-Jup and having a low eccentricity (<0.05).