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The Smithers Divide

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The Smithers Divide

In Binary Systems containing one or more planets, if ϕ P a S a ϵ < 0.75 , the planet's orbit is almost always unstable, where ϕ P a S a is the ratio of planetary semi-major axis to stellar semi-major axis, and ϵ is the stellar orbital eccentricity. However, when ϕ ϵ = 0.25 , the planetary orbits appear to be stable. The Smithers Divide is this phenomenon, and is currently a topic of ongoing research at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It is named after Benjamin Smithers, a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, California, United States.

References

The Smithers Divide Wikipedia