Three-Dimensional Orbital Architectures and Detectability of Adjacent Companions to Hot Jupiters

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: MacLean, Thomas, Becker, Juliette
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908368652730368
author MacLean, Thomas
Becker, Juliette
author_facet MacLean, Thomas
Becker, Juliette
contents The orbital properties of the (as-yet) small population of hot Jupiters with nearby planetary companions provide valuable constraints on the past migration processes of these systems. In this work, we explore the likelihood that dynamical perturbations could cause nearby inner or outer companions to hot Jupiter to leave the transiting plane, potentially leaving these companions undetected despite their presence at formation. Using a combination of analytical and numerical models, we examine the effects of stellar evolution on hot Jupiter systems with nearby companions and identify several possible outcomes. We find that while inner companions are generally unlikely to leave the transiting plane, outer companions are more prone to decoupling from the hot Jupiter and becoming non-transiting, depending on the system's initial orbital architecture. Additionally, we observe a range of dynamical behaviors, including overall stability, inclination excitation, and, in some cases, instability leading to the ejection or collision of planets. We also show that the effect of stellar obliquity (with respect to the mean planet of the planets) is to amplify these effects and potentially cause outer companions to attain non-mutually-transiting configurations more often. Our results highlight the complex dynamical pathways shaping the architectures of hot Jupiter systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_11637
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Three-Dimensional Orbital Architectures and Detectability of Adjacent Companions to Hot Jupiters
MacLean, Thomas
Becker, Juliette
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The orbital properties of the (as-yet) small population of hot Jupiters with nearby planetary companions provide valuable constraints on the past migration processes of these systems. In this work, we explore the likelihood that dynamical perturbations could cause nearby inner or outer companions to hot Jupiter to leave the transiting plane, potentially leaving these companions undetected despite their presence at formation. Using a combination of analytical and numerical models, we examine the effects of stellar evolution on hot Jupiter systems with nearby companions and identify several possible outcomes. We find that while inner companions are generally unlikely to leave the transiting plane, outer companions are more prone to decoupling from the hot Jupiter and becoming non-transiting, depending on the system's initial orbital architecture. Additionally, we observe a range of dynamical behaviors, including overall stability, inclination excitation, and, in some cases, instability leading to the ejection or collision of planets. We also show that the effect of stellar obliquity (with respect to the mean planet of the planets) is to amplify these effects and potentially cause outer companions to attain non-mutually-transiting configurations more often. Our results highlight the complex dynamical pathways shaping the architectures of hot Jupiter systems.
title Three-Dimensional Orbital Architectures and Detectability of Adjacent Companions to Hot Jupiters
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11637