Abstract
Aims. Many extrasolar systems possessing planets in mean-motion resonance or resonant chain have been discovered to date. The transit method coupled with transit timing variation analysis provides an insight into the physical and orbital parameters of the systems, but suffers from observational limitations. When a (near-)resonant planetary system resides in the dynamical neighbourhood of a stable periodic orbit, its long-term stability, and thus survival, can be guaranteed. We use the intrinsic property of the periodic orbits, namely their linear horizontal and vertical stability, to validate or further constrain the orbital elements of detected two-planet systems. Methods. We computed the families of periodic orbits in the general three-body problem for several two-planet Kepler and K2 systems. The dynamical neighbourhood of the systems is unveiled with maps of dynamical stability. Results. Additional validations or constraints on the orbital elements of K2-21, K2-24, Kepler-9, and (non-coplanar) Kepler-108 near-resonant systems were achieved. While a mean-motion resonance locking protects the long-term evolution of the systems K2-21 and K2-24, such a resonant evolution is not possible for the Kepler-9 system, whose stability is maintained through an apsidal anti-alignment. For the Kepler-108 system, we find that the stability of its mutually inclined planets could be justified either solely by a mean-motion resonance, or in tandem with an inclination-type resonance. Going forward, dynamical analyses based on periodic orbits could yield better constrained orbital elements of near-resonant extrasolar systems when performed in parallel to the fitting of the observational data.
Original language | English |
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Article number | A55 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
Volume | 640 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2020 |
Funding
Acknowledgements. We thank the anonymous reviewer whose remarks helped us improve our manuscript. The research of KIA is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme \u201CHuman Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning\u201D in the context of the project \u201CReinforcement of Postdoctoral Researchers \u2013 2nd Cycle\u201D (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). This work was supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique \u2013 FNRS under Grant No. F.4523.20 (DYNAMITE MIS-project). Computational resources have been provided by the Consortium des \u00C9quipements de Calcul Intensif, supported by the FNRS-FRFC, the Walloon Region, and the University of Namur (Conventions No. 2.5020.11, GEQ U.G006.15, 1610468 et RW/GEQ2016).
Funders | Funder number |
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FNRS‐FRFC | |
European Commission | |
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique F.R.S.-FNRS | |
University of Namur | 1610468, 2.5020.11, RW/GEQ2016, GEQ U.G006.15 |
UK Research and Innovation | 45364 |
European Social Fund | MIS-5033021 |
Keywords
- Celestial mechanics
- Chaos
- Methods: Analytical
- Methods: Numerical
- Planetary systems
- Planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability