Planetary architectures under the influence of a stellar binary

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Autori principali: Ávila-Bravo, Milenne, Charalambous, Carolina, Aguilera-Gómez, Claudia
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Ávila-Bravo, Milenne
Charalambous, Carolina
Aguilera-Gómez, Claudia
author_facet Ávila-Bravo, Milenne
Charalambous, Carolina
Aguilera-Gómez, Claudia
contents Context. The presence of a stellar companion can strongly influence the architecture and long-term stability of planetary systems. Motivated by the discovery of exoplanets exhibiting extremely high eccentricities (e >= 0.8) in systems with a binary companion, we investigate how planetary orbits around one star (S-type configuration) evolve under the gravitational perturbations of the companion. Aims. We aim to assess the role of a stellar companion in shaping the orbital evolution of S-type planets and to explore whether dynamical interactions in such environments can account for the formation of highly eccentric planets. Methods. We performed a suite of N-body simulations, modeling systems initially composed of three Jupiter-mass planets on nearly circular, coplanar orbits around the primary star. We systematically varied the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination of the stellar companion, to characterize the conditions under which extreme eccentricities can be excited. Results. Our results show that dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering and secular mechanisms--including the von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov effect induced by the binary--often act together to produce abrupt and significant changes in planetary orbital evolution, with the outcome strongly dependent on the binary separation. The binary's eccentricity primarily dictates the number of surviving planets, while its inclination not only governs the final eccentricities of those survivors but also drives their orbits to align with the binary plane. Our simulations successfully reproduce the high eccentricities and compact orbits observed in four observed systems, showing close agreement between the modeled configurations and the actual systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_09676
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Planetary architectures under the influence of a stellar binary
Ávila-Bravo, Milenne
Charalambous, Carolina
Aguilera-Gómez, Claudia
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Context. The presence of a stellar companion can strongly influence the architecture and long-term stability of planetary systems. Motivated by the discovery of exoplanets exhibiting extremely high eccentricities (e >= 0.8) in systems with a binary companion, we investigate how planetary orbits around one star (S-type configuration) evolve under the gravitational perturbations of the companion. Aims. We aim to assess the role of a stellar companion in shaping the orbital evolution of S-type planets and to explore whether dynamical interactions in such environments can account for the formation of highly eccentric planets. Methods. We performed a suite of N-body simulations, modeling systems initially composed of three Jupiter-mass planets on nearly circular, coplanar orbits around the primary star. We systematically varied the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination of the stellar companion, to characterize the conditions under which extreme eccentricities can be excited. Results. Our results show that dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering and secular mechanisms--including the von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov effect induced by the binary--often act together to produce abrupt and significant changes in planetary orbital evolution, with the outcome strongly dependent on the binary separation. The binary's eccentricity primarily dictates the number of surviving planets, while its inclination not only governs the final eccentricities of those survivors but also drives their orbits to align with the binary plane. Our simulations successfully reproduce the high eccentricities and compact orbits observed in four observed systems, showing close agreement between the modeled configurations and the actual systems.
title Planetary architectures under the influence of a stellar binary
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.09676