The dependence of the stability of hierarchical triple systems on the orbital inclination

TL;DR

This study numerically investigates how the initial mutual orbital inclination influences the stability boundary of hierarchical triple systems with circular orbits across a wide range of mass ratios.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the initial mutual inclination angle affects the stability boundary, challenging the assumption of its independence for certain mass ratios.

Findings

Inclination impacts stability boundary for various mass ratios.

Numerical simulations cover mass ratios from 10^-6 to 10^6.

Stability boundary varies with initial orbital inclination.

Abstract

In this paper we study numerically the effect of the initial mutual orbital inclination on the stability of hierarchical triple systems with initially circular orbits. Our aim is to investigate the possibility that the stability boundary may be independent of the orbital inclination for certain mass ratios. We integrate numerically the equations of motion of hierarchical triple systems with initially circular orbits and different orbital configurations. The mass ratios cover the range from 0.000001 to 1000000 and the initial mutual inclination angle varies from 0 to 180 degrees. The results from the numerical simulations show that for hierarchical triple systems with initially circular orbits and for the mass ratios we used, the initial mutual inclination angle does affect the stability boundary.