On the origin of planets at very wide orbits from the recapture of free floating planets

In recent years, several planets have been discovered at wide orbits (>100AU) around their host stars. Theoretical studies encounter difficulties in explaining their formation and origin. Here we propose a novel scenario for the production of planetary systems at such orbits, through the dynamical recapture of free floating planets (FFPs) in dispersing stellar clusters and stellar associations. This process is a natural extension of the recently suggested scenario for the formation of wide stellar binaries. We use N-body simulations of dispersing clusters with 10-1000 stars and comparable numbers of FFPs to study this process. We find that planets are captured into wide orbits in the typical range few × 100-10⁶AU and have a wide range of eccentricities (thermal distribution). Typically, 3-6 × (f _FFP/1)% of all stars capture a planetary companion with such properties (where f _FFP is the number of FFP per star in the birth clusters). The planetary capture efficiency is comparable to that of capture-formed stellar binaries, and shows a similar dependence on the cluster size and structure. It is almost independent of the specific planetary mass; planets as well as substellar companions of any mass can be captured. The capture efficiency decreases with increasing cluster size, and for a given cluster size it increases with the host/primary mass. We also find that more than one planet can be captured around the same host through independent consecutive captures; similarly, planets can be captured into binary systems, both in circumstellar and circumbinary orbits. We also expect planets to be captured into pre-existing planetary (and protoplanetary systems) as well as into orbits around black holes and massive white dwarfs, if these formed early enough before the cluster dispersal. In particular, stellar black holes have a high capture efficiency (>50% and 5-10 × (f _FFP/1)% for capture of stars and planetary companions, respectively) due to their large mass. Finally, although rare, two FFPs or brown dwarfs can become bound and form an FFP-binary system with no stellar host.