The formation of planets in circumbinary discs

We examine the formation of planets around binary stars in light of the recently discovered systems Kepler 16, 34 and 35. We conduct hydrodynamical simulations of self-gravitating discs around binary systems. The selected binary and disc parameters are chosen consistent with observed systems. The discs are evolved until they settle in a quasi-equilibrium and the resulting systems are compared with the parameters of Kepler 16, 34 and 35. We find a close correspondence of the peak density at the inner disc gap and the orbit of the observed planets. We conclude, based on our simulations, that the orbits of the observed Kepler planets are determined by the size of the inner disc gap which for these systems results from the binary driving. This mediates planet formation either through the density enhancement or through planetary trapping at the density gradient inversion in the inner disc. For all three systems the current eccentricity of the planetary orbit is less than the disc eccentricity in the simulations. This, together with the long-term stability of the orbits argues against in situ formation (e. g. a direct collapse scenario of the material in the ring). Conducting additional simulations of systems with a wider range of parameters (taken from a survey of eclipsing binaries), we find that the planet semimajor axis and binary eccentricity in such a scenario should be tightly correlated providing an observational test of this formation mechanism.