Letter to the Editor

Planets orbiting Quark Nova compact remnants

¹ Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada

Corresponding author: P. Keränen, keranen@nordita.dk

Received: 17 February 2003
Accepted: 23 June 2003

Abstract

We explore planet formation in the Quark Nova scenario. If a millisecond pulsar explodes as a Quark Nova, a protoplanetary disk can be formed out of the metal rich fall-back material. The propeller mechanism transfers angular momentum from the born quark star to the disk that will go through viscous evolution with later plausible grain condensation and planet formation. As a result, earth-size planets on circular orbits may form within short radii from the central quark star. The planets in the PSR 1257+12 system can be explained by our model if the Quark Nova compact remnant is born with a period of ~0.5 ms following the explosion. We suggest that a good portion of the Quark Nova remnants may harbour planetary systems.