Planet-Star Interactions in Eccentric Sytems

Extrasolar planets orbiting on short orbital distances have violent planetstarinteractions that determine their survival and evolution. We propose to utilizethe unique geometry of giant planets in elliptical orbits to study planetstarinteractions with XMM. Statistical surveys suggest an exponential relationbetween Xray flux and the orbital distance, and we propose to measure Xrayvariability along the orbits of various planetary systems. Our XMM observationswill determine whether or not the planets have magnetospheres, sample thestellar wind and quantitatively assess planetstar interaction models. Even moreso, these observations might evoke a new way of discovering exoplanets with XMM. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]