Secular orbital dynamics of the innermost exoplanet of the $\upsilon$-Andromedæ system

Abstract

We introduce a quasi-periodic restricted Hamiltonian to describe the secular motion of a small-mass planet in a multi-planetary system. In particular, we refer to the motion of $\upsilon$-And $b$ which is the innermost planet among those discovered in the extrasolar system orbiting around the $\upsilon$-Andromedae A star. We preassign the orbits of the Super-Jupiter exoplanets $\upsilon$-And $c$ and $\upsilon$-And $d$ in a stable configuration. The Fourier decompositions of their secular motions are reconstructed by using the Frequency Analysis and are injected in the equations describing the orbital dynamics of $\upsilon$-And $b$ under the gravitational effects exerted by those two external exoplanets (expected to be major ones in such an extrasolar system). We end up with a $2+3/2$ degrees of freedom Hamiltonian model; its validity is confirmed by the comparison with several numerical integrations of the complete $4$-body problem. Furthermore, the model is enriched by taking into account also the relativistic effects on the secular motion of the innermost exoplanet. We focus on the problem of the stability of $\upsilon$-And $b$ as a function of the parameters that mostly impact on its orbit, i.e. the initial values of its inclination and the longitude of its node. We study the evolution of its eccentricity, crucial to exclude orbital configurations with high probability of (quasi)collision with the central star in the long-time evolution of the system. Moreover, we also introduce a normal form approach, that further reduces our Hamiltonian model to a system with $2$ degrees of freedom, which is integrable because it admits a constant of motion related to the total angular momentum. This allows us to quickly preselect the domains of stability for $\upsilon$-And $b$, with respect to the set of the initial orbital configurations that are compatible with the observations.

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