1997A&A...326L..21D

The discovery of Jupiter-like planets with high eccentricities raises the question of how these eccentricities are produced. We propose that eccentric giant planets (EGPs) could be formed in open star clusters as a result of purely dynamical processes. It is found that at least 3% of the giant planets around stars in open clusters can develop high eccentricities due to multi-body gravitational interactions; this percentage increases to 20% if considering only G-dwarf stars. The formation mechanism implies complex dynamical interactions inside retrograde hierarchical configurations within the cluster core. The percentage of planetary systems leaving open star clusters without changes in their original dynamical properties can be very large, almost 90%.