Global dynamics and stability limits for planetary systems around HD 12661, HD 38529, HD 37124 and HD 160691

Abstract

In order to distinguish between regular and chaotic planetary orbits we apply a new technique called MEGNO in a wide neighbourhood of orbital parameters determined using standard two-body Keplerian fits for HD 12661, HD 38529, HD 37124 and HD 160691 planetary systems. We show that the currently announced orbital parameters place these systems in very different situations from the point of view of dynamical stability. While HD 38529 and HD 37124 are located within large stability zones in the phase space around their determined orbits, the preliminary orbits in HD 160691 are highly unstable. The orbital parameters of the HD 12661 planets are located in a border region between stable and unstable dynamical regimes, so while its currently determined orbital parameters produce stable regular orbits, a minor change within the margin of error of just one parameter may result in a chaotic dynamical system.

12 pages, 3 figures, accepted ApJ, revised version following the referee's report

References in corpus (2)

• Evolution in Binary and Triple Stars, with an application to SS Lac
• Extrasolar Trojans: The Viability and Detectability of Planets in the 1:1 Resonance

Cited by in corpus (15)

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• The Librating Companions in HD 37124, HD 12661, HD 82943, 47 Uma and GJ 876: Alignment or Antialignment?
• Planets in habitable zones: A study of the binary Gamma Cephei
• Astrometric Methods and Instrumentation to Identify and Characterize Extrasolar Planets: A Review
• Where is the second planet in the HD 160691 planetary system?
• Occurrence and Stability of Apsidal Resonance in Multiple Planetary Systems
• Secular Evolution of HD 12661: A System Caught at an Unlikely Time
• Are retrograde resonances possible in multi-planet systems?
• Narrow-Angle Astrometry with the Space Interferometry Mission: The Search for Extra-solar Planets. I. Detection and Characterization of Single Planets
• Conditions of Dynamical Stability for the HD 160691 Planetary System
• Narrow-Angle Astrometry with the Space Interferometry Mission: The Search for Extra-Solar Planets. II. Detection and Characterization of Planetary Systems
• Extrasolar Planet Interactions