Tatooine's Future: The Eccentric Response of Kepler's Circumbinary Planets to Common-Envelope Evolution of their Host Stars

TL;DR

This study investigates how circumbinary planets around close binary stars evolve during the stars' common-envelope phases, showing they often remain bound, migrate outward, and can gain eccentricity, with implications for observed post-common-envelope systems.

Contribution

It combines binary star evolution models with dynamical simulations to analyze the orbital evolution of circumbinary planets during common-envelope phases, revealing their potential to survive and significantly change orbits.

Findings

Most planets remain bound after common-envelope phases.

Planets can migrate outward by over an order of magnitude.

Orbital eccentricity can increase significantly during evolution.

Abstract

Inspired by the recent Kepler discoveries of circumbinary planets orbiting nine close binary stars, we explore the fate of the former as the latter evolve off the main sequence. We combine binary star evolution models with dynamical simulations to study the orbital evolution of these planets as their hosts undergo common-envelope stages, losing in the process a tremendous amount of mass on dynamical timescales. Five of the systems experience at least one Roche-lobe overflow and common-envelope stages (Kepler-1647 experiences three), and the binary stars either shrink to very short orbits or coalesce; two systems trigger a double-degenerate supernova explosion. Kepler's circumbinary planets predominantly remain gravitationally bound at the end of the common-envelope phase, migrate to larger orbits, and may gain significant eccentricity; their orbital expansion can be more than an order of magnitude and can occur over the course of a single planetary orbit. The orbits these planets can reach are qualitatively consistent with those of the currently known post-common-envelope, eclipse-time variations circumbinary candidates. Our results also show that circumbinary planets can experience both modes of orbital expansion (adiabatic and non-adiabatic) if their host binaries undergo more than one common-envelope stage; multiplanet circumbinary systems like Kepler-47 can experience both modes during the same common-envelope stage. Additionally, unlike Mercury orbiting the Sun, a circumbinary planet with the same semi-major axis can survive the common envelope evolution of a close binary star with a total mass of 1 MSun.