The new publication is originated from the EXOWORLD project with a collaboration between the DLR and the Astrobiology Center of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
The topic of this paper was the analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of the warm Jupiter WASP-106 b to find the obliquity of the orbit, which is defined as the alignment of the stellar spin axis and the planetary orbital axis.
Understanding this angle is crucial for unraveling the mechanisms of planetary formation and subsequent migration. From the analysis of radial velocity observations, the authors find the planet to be in alignment with its host star’s rotation, as is expected for warm Jupiter planets which are thought to quiescently migrate to their orbits.
This is in contrast to the findings for hot Jupiters, which are thought to undergo high-eccentricity migration, leading to a variety of obliquities, if they are not able to be tidally damped by their host stars.
The publication has been recently accepted in Astrophysical Journal and can be accessed here.