Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:1108.5149)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (1) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Characterizing multi-planet systems with classical secular theory
Authors:
Van Laerhoven, Christa; Greenberg, Richard
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Planetary Science, University of Arizona), AB(Department of Planetary Science, University of Arizona)
Publication:
Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, Volume 113, Issue 2, pp.215-234 (CeMDA Homepage)
Publication Date:
06/2012
Origin:
SPRINGER
Keywords:
Planetary systems, Planets, Dissipative forces, Tides, Secular theory, 55 Cancri planets, Mutual perturbations, Long-term stability
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2012: Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
DOI:
10.1007/s10569-012-9410-6
Bibliographic Code:
2012CeMDA.113..215V

Abstract

Classical secular theory can be a powerful tool to describe the qualitative character of multi-planet systems and offer insight into their histories. The eigenmodes of the secular behavior, rather than current orbital elements, can help identify tidal effects, early planet-planet scattering, and dynamical coupling among the planets, for systems in which mean-motion resonances do not play a role. Although tidal damping can result in aligned major axes after all but one eigenmode have damped away, such alignment may simply be fortuitous. An example of this is 55 Cancri (orbital solution of Fischer et al. in Astophys J 675:790-801, 2008) where multiple eigenmodes remain undamped. Various solutions for 55 Cancri are compared, showing differing dynamical groupings, with implications for the coupling of eccentricities and for the partitioning of damping among the planets. Solutions for orbits that include expectations of past tidal evolution with observational data, must take into account which eigenmodes should be damped, rather than expecting particular eccentricities to be near zero. Classical secular theory is only accurate for low eccentricity values, but comparison with other results suggests that it can yield useful qualitative descriptions of behavior even for moderately large eccentricity values, and may have advantages for revealing underlying physical processes and, as large numbers of new systems are discovered, for triage to identify where more comprehensive dynamical studies should have priority.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
  New!

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints