A multiwavelength study of the hierarchical triple HD 181068: A test bed for studying star-planet-interaction?

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic activity and tidal interactions in the unique hierarchical triple star system HD 181068, revealing high magnetic activity, flare events, and tidally-induced oscillations that resemble star-planet interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first multiwavelength characterization of HD 181068, demonstrating its potential as a test bed for star-planet-interaction studies through detailed X-ray, optical, and Kepler data analysis.

Findings

Strong quiescent X-ray emission from the giant star.

Detection of white-light flares releasing up to 6e38 erg.

Tidally-induced oscillations comparable to hot Jupiter disturbances.

Abstract

HD 181068 is the only compact, triply eclipsing, hierarchical triple system containing a giant star known to date. With its central, highly-active G-type giant orbited by a close pair of main-sequence dwarfs, the system is ideal to study tidal interactions. We carried out a multiwavelength study to characterize the magnetic activity of the HD 181068 system. To this end, we obtained in- and out-of-eclipse X-ray snapshots with XMM-Newton and an optical spectrum, which we analyzed along with the Kepler light-curve. The primary giant shows strong quiescent X-ray emission at a level of 2e31 ergs, an S-index of 0.41 +/- 0.01, and marked white-light flares releasing up to 6e38 erg in the Kepler-band. During the second X-ray observation, we found a three-times elevated -- yet decaying -- level of X-ray emission, which might be due to an X-ray flare. The high level of magnetic activity is compatible with the previously reported absence of solar-like oscillations in the giant, whose atmosphere, however, undergoes tidally-induced oscillations imposed by the changing configuration of the dwarf-binary. We found that the driving force exciting these oscillations is comparable to the disturbances produced by a typical hot Jupiter, making the system a potential test bed to study the effects of tidal interactions also present in planetary systems.