Stability of additional planets in and around the habitable zone of the HD 47186 Planetary System

Abstract

We study the dynamical stability of an additional, potentially habitable planet in the HD 47186 planetary system. Two planets are currently known in this system: a "hot Neptune" with a period of 4.08 days and a Saturn-mass planet with a period of 3.7 years. Here we consider the possibility that one or more undetected planets exist between the two known planets and possibly within the habitable zone in this system. Given the relatively low masses of the known planets, additional planets could have masses $\lsim 10 \mearth$, and hence be terrestrial-like and further improving potential habitability. We perform $N$-body simulations to identify the stable zone between planets $b$ and $c$ and find that much of the inner habitable zone can harbor a $10 \mearth$ planet. With the current radial-velocity threshold of $\sim 1$ m/s, an additional planet should be detectable if it lies at the inner edge of the habitable zone at 0.8 AU. We also show that the stable zone could contain two additional planets of $10 \mearth$ each if their eccentricities are lower than $\sim 0.3$.

arXiv comment11 pages, 2 figures, accepted to Astrophysical Journal letters

References in corpus (18)

• Habitable planets around the star Gl 581?
• Models of the in situ formation of detected extrasolar giant planets
• Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration
• Dynamical Habitability of Known Extrasolar Planetary Systems
• Formation of Earth-like Planets During and After Giant Planet Migration
• Stability Limits in Extra-solar Planetary Systems
• The (In)Stability of Planetary Systems
• The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. XVII. Super-Earth and Neptune-mass planets in multiple planet systems HD47186 and HD181433
• Predicting Planets in Known Extra-Solar Planetary Systems I: Test Particle Simulations
• The habitability of super-Earths in Gliese 581
• Predicting Planets in Known Extra-Solar Planetary Systems II: Testing for Saturn-mass Planets
• Stability Limits in Resonant Planetary Systems
• Detection of a Third Planet in the HD 74156 System Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope
• The Successful Prediction of the Extrasolar Planet HD 74156 d
• A study of the stability regions in the planetary system HD 74156 - Can it host earthlike planets in habitable zones?
• A Statistical Examination of the Short Term Stability of the Upsilon Andromedae System
• Secular Evolution of HD 12661: A System Caught at an Unlikely Time
• A dynamical perspective on additional planets in 55 Cancri

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Planet-planet scattering in planetesimal disks II: Predictions for outer extrasolar planetary systems
• Remote Life Detection Criteria, Habitable Zone Boundaries, and the Frequency of Earthlike Planets around M and Late-K Stars
• Planet-planet scattering leads to tightly packed planetary systems
• Stability analysis of single planet systems and their habitable zones
• In the Presence of a Wrecking Ball: Orbital Stability in the HR 5183 System
• Dynamical Packing in the Habitable Zone: The Case of Beta CVn