Does Si play a role in the formation of extrasolar planet systems?

Abstract

With the high signal-to-noise ratio spectra, we obtained Si abundances of 22 extrasolar planet host stars, and discussed some constraints on the planet formation. Using our silicon abundance results and other authors’ Si abundance studies about planets-harboring stars, we investigated the correlation between the dynamical properties and the silicon abundance. We propose a hypothesis that higher primordial metallicity in the host stars’ birth cloud with higher abundance of Si will make the cloud more sticky to bypass the time scale restriction in planet formation and easier to form the planets.