On the relativistic Lagrange-Laplace secular dynamics for extrasolar systems

TL;DR

This paper extends classical secular dynamics to include relativistic effects, providing a high-order analytical framework that accurately predicts long-term eccentricity evolution in extrasolar planetary systems.

Contribution

It introduces a high-order relativistic extension of the Lagrange-Laplace theory and develops an analytic criterion to assess relativistic impacts on planetary dynamics.

Findings

Excellent agreement with numerical integrations

Analytic criterion for relativistic effects

Enhanced understanding of long-term eccentricity evolution

Abstract

We study the secular dynamics of extrasolar planetary systems by extending the Lagrange-Laplace theory to high order and by including the relativistic effects. We investigate the long-term evolution of the planetary eccentricities via normal form and we find an excellent agreement with direct numerical integrations. Finally we set up a simple analytic criterion that allows to evaluate the impact of the relativistic effects in the long-time evolution.