Planet formation and long-term stability in a very eccentric stellar binary
Fuente:
arXiv
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2025
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866915096190517248 |
|---|---|
| author | Stegmann, Jakob Grishin, Evgeni Johnston, Cole Eisner, Nora L. Justham, Stephen de Mink, Selma E. Perets, Hagai B. |
| author_facet | Stegmann, Jakob Grishin, Evgeni Johnston, Cole Eisner, Nora L. Justham, Stephen de Mink, Selma E. Perets, Hagai B. |
| contents | Planets orbiting one of the two stars in a binary are vulnerable to gravitational perturbations from the other star. Particularly, highly eccentric companion stars risk disrupting planetary orbits, such as in the extreme system TOI 4633 where close encounters between the companion and a gas giant planet in the habitable zone make it one of the most fragile systems discovered so far. Here, we report that TOI 4633's planet likely survived these encounters throughout the system's age by orbiting retrograde relative to the binary, stabilised by the Coriolis force. Using direct $N$-body simulations, we show it otherwise tends to collide with the binary stars or becomes free-floating after getting ejected. A retrograde planetary orbit has profound implications for TOI 4633's formation and evolution, suggesting an extraordinary history where its eccentric companion was likely randomly captured after planet formation in a single-star system. Alternatively, if stars and planet are born in situ from the same gas clump, we show the planet must have formed at sub-snow-line distances, contrary to the conventional core-accretion model. Our study highlights the importance of considering the long-term stability ($\gtrsim\rm Gyr$) of planets in eccentric binaries and demonstrates that the mere existence in such dynamically hostile environments places strong constraints on their orbital configuration and formation. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_05506 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Planet formation and long-term stability in a very eccentric stellar binary Stegmann, Jakob Grishin, Evgeni Johnston, Cole Eisner, Nora L. Justham, Stephen de Mink, Selma E. Perets, Hagai B. Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Planets orbiting one of the two stars in a binary are vulnerable to gravitational perturbations from the other star. Particularly, highly eccentric companion stars risk disrupting planetary orbits, such as in the extreme system TOI 4633 where close encounters between the companion and a gas giant planet in the habitable zone make it one of the most fragile systems discovered so far. Here, we report that TOI 4633's planet likely survived these encounters throughout the system's age by orbiting retrograde relative to the binary, stabilised by the Coriolis force. Using direct $N$-body simulations, we show it otherwise tends to collide with the binary stars or becomes free-floating after getting ejected. A retrograde planetary orbit has profound implications for TOI 4633's formation and evolution, suggesting an extraordinary history where its eccentric companion was likely randomly captured after planet formation in a single-star system. Alternatively, if stars and planet are born in situ from the same gas clump, we show the planet must have formed at sub-snow-line distances, contrary to the conventional core-accretion model. Our study highlights the importance of considering the long-term stability ($\gtrsim\rm Gyr$) of planets in eccentric binaries and demonstrates that the mere existence in such dynamically hostile environments places strong constraints on their orbital configuration and formation. |
| title | Planet formation and long-term stability in a very eccentric stellar binary |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Solar and Stellar Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.05506 |