Classical and relativistic node precessional effects in WASP-33b and perspectives for detecting them

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential to detect classical and relativistic orbital precessional effects in the WASP-33b exoplanet system, which features a rapidly rotating star with significant quadrupole and angular momentum.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the expected precessional effects in the WASP-33b system and discusses the observational prospects for detecting these effects.

Findings

Classical precession effects are significant due to the star's large quadrupole moment.

Relativistic effects may be detectable with precise measurements.

The system's unique properties make it an ideal candidate for testing orbital precession theories.

Abstract

WASP-33 is a fast rotating, main sequence star which hosts a hot Jupiter moving along a retrograde and almost polar orbit with semi-major axis a = 0.02 au and eccentricity provisionally set to e = 0. The quadrupole mass moment J_2 and the proper angular momentum S of the star are 1900 and 400 times, respectively, larger than those of the Sun. Thus, huge classical and relativistic non-Keplerian orbital effects should take place in such a system. In this paper we investigate the perspectives in detecting them (Abridged)