Exoplanet predictions based on harmonic orbit resonances

Abstract

The current exoplanet database includes 5454 confirmed and candidate planets observed with the Kepler mission. We find 932 planet pairs from which we extract distance and orbital period ratios. While earlier studies used a logarithmic spacing, which lacks a physical model, we employ here the theory of harmonic orbit resonances, which contains quantized ratios instead, to explain the observed planet distance ratios and to predict undetected exoplanets. We find that the most prevailing harmonic ratios are (2:1), (3:2), and (5:3) in 73% of the cases, while alternative harmonic ratios of (5:4), (4:3), (5:2), and (3:1) occur in the other 27% of the cases. Our orbital predictions include 171 exoplanets, 2 Jupiter moons, 1 Saturn moon, 3 Uranus moons, and 4 Neptune moons. The accuracy of the predicted planet distances amounts to a few percent, which fits the data significantly better than the logarithmic spacing. This information may be useful for targeted exoplanet searches with Kepler data and to estimate the number of live-carrying planets in habitable zones.