Determination of the Interior Structure of Transiting Planets in Multiple-Planet Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how tidal interactions and orbital dynamics in multi-planet systems can reveal the interior structure of transiting exoplanets, using the HAT-P-13 system as a case study.

Contribution

It introduces a method to infer planetary interior properties from orbital eccentricity measurements in multi-planet systems.

Findings

Inner planet's eccentricity constrains the Love number k2.

Estimated core mass range for the planet is 0-120 Earth masses.

Tidal Q factor is less than 300,000.

Abstract

Tidal dissipation within a short-period transiting extrasolar planet perturbed by a companion object can drive orbital evolution of the system to a so-called tidal fixed point, in which the apsidal lines of the transiting planet and its perturber are aligned, and for which variations in the orbital eccentricities of both planet and perturber are damped out. Significant contributions to the apsidal precession rate are made by the secular planet-planet interaction, by general relativity, and by the gravitational quadropole fields created by the transiting planet's tidal and rotational distortions. The fixed-point orbital eccentricity of the inner planet is therefore a strong function of the planet's interior structure. We illustrate these ideas in the specific context of the recently discovered HAT-P-13 exo-planetary system, and show that one can already glean important insights into the physical properties of the inner transiting planet. We present structural models of the planet, which indicate that its observed radius can be maintained for a one-parameter sequence of models that properly vary core mass and tidal energy dissipation in the interior. We use an octopole-order secular theory of the orbital dynamics to derive the dependence of the inner planet's eccentricity, on its tidal Love number. We find that the currently measured eccentricity, implies 0.116 < k2_{b} < 0.425, 0 M_{Earth}<M_{core}<120 M_{Earth}$, and Q_{b} < 300,000. Improved measurement of the eccentricity will soon allow for far tighter limits to be placed on all three of these quantities, and will provide an unprecedented probe into the interior structure of an extrasolar planet.