Stability of multiplanet systems in binaries

Abstract

When exploring the stability of multiplanet systems in binaries, two parameters are normally exploited: the critical semimajor axis ac computed by Holman and Wiegert (1999) within which planets are stable against the binary perturbations, and the Hill stability limit Delta determining the minimum separation beyond which two planets will avoid mutual close encounters. Our aim is to test whether these two parameters can be safely applied in multiplanet systems in binaries or if their predictions fail for particular binary orbital configurations. We have used the frequency map analysis (FMA) to measure the diffusion of orbits in the phase space as an indicator of chaotic behaviour. First we revisited the reliability of the empirical formula computing ac in the case of single planets in binaries and we find that, in some cases, it underestimates by 10-20% the real outer limit of stability. For two planet systems, the value of Delta is close to that computed for planets around single stars, but the level of chaoticity close to it substantially increases for smaller semimajor axes and higher eccentricities of the binary orbit. In these configurations ac also begins to be unreliable and non linear secular resonances with the stellar companion lead to chaotic behaviour well within ac, even for single planet systems. For two planet systems, the superposition of mean motion resonances, either mutual or with the binary companion, and non linear secular resonances may lead to chaotic behaviour in all cases. We have developed a parametric semiempirical formula determining the minimum value of the binary semimajor axis, for a given eccentricity of the binary orbit, below which stable two planet systems cannot exist.

Accepted on A&A

References in corpus (4)

• Dynamical Outcomes of Planet-Planet Scattering
• Most Sub-Arcsecond Companions of Kepler Exoplanet Candidate Host Stars are Gravitationally Bound
• Dynamical behaviour of multiplanet systems close to their stability limit
• Dynamical Stability of Terrestrial Planets in the Binary α Centauri System

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• A Pluto--Charon Sonata: Dynamical Limits on the Masses of the Small Satellites
• The unstable fate of the planet orbiting the A-star in the HD 131399 triple stellar system
• Lidov-Kozai stability regions in the alpha Centauri system
• Fear the Shadows of the Giants: On Secular Perturbations in Circumstellar Habitable Zones of Double Stars
• On the stability of planetary orbits in binary star systems I. The S-type orbits
• Planetary migration in precessing disks for S-type wide binaries