Characterizing the Orbital and Dynamical State of the HD 82943 Planetary System With Keck Radial Velocity Data

TL;DR

This study analyzes 10 years of Keck radial velocity data to determine the orbital configuration of the HD 82943 system, confirming a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with stable, coplanar planetary orbits.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive dynamical analysis supporting the 2:1 resonance and constrains the system's inclination and planetary masses using multiple fitting methods.

Findings

Supports 2:1 mean-motion resonance configuration

Constrains system inclination to about 20 degrees

Finds the system's best-fit orbits are dynamically stable

Abstract

We present an updated analysis of radial velocity data of the HD 82943 planetary system based on 10 years of measurements obtained with the Keck telescope. Previous studies have shown that the HD 82943 system has two planets that are likely in 2:1 mean-motion resonance (MMR), with the orbital periods about 220 and 440 days (Lee et al. 2006). However, alternative fits that are qualitatively different have also been suggested, with two planets in a 1:1 resonance (Gozdziewski & Konacki 2006) or three planets in a Laplace 4:2:1 resonance (Beauge et al. 2008). Here we use \c{hi}2 minimization combined with parameter grid search to investigate the orbital parameters and dynamical states of the qualitatively different types of fits, and we compare the results to those obtained with the differential evolution Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Our results support the coplanar 2:1 MMR configuration for the HD 82943 system, and show no evidence for either the 1:1 or 3-planet Laplace resonance fits. The inclination of the system with respect to the sky plane is well constrained at about 20(+4.9 -5.5) degree, and the system contains two planets with masses of about 4.78 MJ and 4.80 MJ (where MJ is the mass of Jupiter) and orbital periods of about 219 and 442 days for the inner and outer planet, respectively. The best fit is dynamically stable with both eccentricity-type resonant angles {\theta}1 and {\theta}2 librating around 0 degree.