Analytical models for secular descents in hierarchical triple systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Weldon, Grant C., Naoz, Smadar, Hansen, Bradley M. S.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Weldon, Grant C.
Naoz, Smadar
Hansen, Bradley M. S.
author_facet Weldon, Grant C.
Naoz, Smadar
Hansen, Bradley M. S.
contents Triple body systems are prevalent in nature, from planetary to stellar to supermassive black hole scales. In a hierarchical triple system, oscillations of the inner orbit's eccentricity and inclination can be induced on secular timescales. Over many cycles, the octupole-level terms in the secular equations of motion can drive the system to extremely high eccentricities via the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) mechanism. The overall decrease in the inner orbit's pericenter distance has potentially dramatic effects for realistic systems, such as tidal disruption events. We present an analytical approximation in the test particle limit to describe individual step-wise increases in eccentricity of the inner orbit. A second approximation, also in the test particle limit, is obtained by integrating the equations of motion and calibrating to numerical simulations to estimate the overall octupole-level time evolution of the eccentricity. The latter approach is then extended beyond the test particle to the general case. The three novel analytical approximations are compared to numerical solutions to show that the models accurately describe the form and timescale of the secular descent from large distances to a close-encounter distance (e.g., the Roche limit). By circumventing the need for numerical simulations to obtain the long-term behavior, these approximations can be used to readily estimate properties of close encounters and descent timescales for populations of systems. We demonstrate by calculating rates of EKL-driven migration for Hot Jupiters in stellar binaries.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_20377
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Analytical models for secular descents in hierarchical triple systems
Weldon, Grant C.
Naoz, Smadar
Hansen, Bradley M. S.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Triple body systems are prevalent in nature, from planetary to stellar to supermassive black hole scales. In a hierarchical triple system, oscillations of the inner orbit's eccentricity and inclination can be induced on secular timescales. Over many cycles, the octupole-level terms in the secular equations of motion can drive the system to extremely high eccentricities via the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) mechanism. The overall decrease in the inner orbit's pericenter distance has potentially dramatic effects for realistic systems, such as tidal disruption events. We present an analytical approximation in the test particle limit to describe individual step-wise increases in eccentricity of the inner orbit. A second approximation, also in the test particle limit, is obtained by integrating the equations of motion and calibrating to numerical simulations to estimate the overall octupole-level time evolution of the eccentricity. The latter approach is then extended beyond the test particle to the general case. The three novel analytical approximations are compared to numerical solutions to show that the models accurately describe the form and timescale of the secular descent from large distances to a close-encounter distance (e.g., the Roche limit). By circumventing the need for numerical simulations to obtain the long-term behavior, these approximations can be used to readily estimate properties of close encounters and descent timescales for populations of systems. We demonstrate by calculating rates of EKL-driven migration for Hot Jupiters in stellar binaries.
title Analytical models for secular descents in hierarchical triple systems
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20377