Orbital evolution of planetary systems

It is significant that the orbits of the planets in the solar system are very nearly circular, except for Mercury and Pluto where, conceivably, due to their comparatively small sizes, the tidal forces have played a less active role. Most of the suspected planets orbiting pulsars have nearly circular orbits. These systems tend to have minimum energy and are subjected to tidal forces. We find that a planet circularizes its orbit, in an effort to attain orbital stability and the ground state. Details can be found in Magalinsky & Chatterjee, 1997, and Magalinsky and Chatterjee, 2000.