\documentstyle[paasms4]{preprint} \input pub.sty \begin{document} \title{RESONANT TIDES IN CLOSE ORBITING PLANETS} \author{S.~H.\ Lubow, C.~A.\ Tout,\thanks{Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1525, Budapest, P.O.B.~67, Hungary}\morethanks{On leave from the University of Cambridge} and M.~Livio \\ \\ Space Telescope Science Institute\\ \\ 3700 San Martin Drive\\ \\ Baltimore, MD 21218} \pub{The Astrophysical Journal} \maketitle \abstract{The outer layers of a gas giant planet in a close orbit are isothermal due to heating by the star, and therefore these layers are convectively stable. A resonant tidal torque is exerted at the outer boundary of the interior convection zone. Tidal dissipation occurs through nonlinear damping. This process is similar to that previously considered for high-mass binary stars. Two novel aspects of the planet case are (1)~the torque is exerted in a region where $H/r_p \ll 1$, for density scale height $H$ and planet radius $r_p$, and (2)~at high spin rates, effects of Coriolis forces are critical in permitting a resonance to occur. Gravity waves carrying angular momentum are launched outward from the resonant region. As these waves damp by nonlinear processes, an over-synchronous planet is spun down towards synchronism with the orbit. The torques are powerful enough to have spun down planet 51~Peg~B below Jupiter's spin rate in about $10^2$~yr, and to approximate synchronism ($\omega_{spin} \sim \omega_{orbit}$) in about $10^5$~yr. These estimates ignore effects of tidal heating, which are likely important at the spin rate of Jupiter or higher. Fast-rotating Jupiter-mass planets with orbital periods of up to about 40~days can be spun down to less than one tenth the spin rate of Jupiter within $ 10^{10}$~yr. A planet's photosphere would be spun down even more effectively than is estimated above, if its outer layers can rotate differentially. A crude estimate suggests that eccentricity is damped on timescales of about $10^{10}$~yr, so a more detailed analysis is required to determine the significance of this effect.}