The Habitable Zone of Kepler-16: Impact of Binarity and Climate Models

TL;DR

This study explores the habitable zone of the Kepler-16 binary system considering climate models and investigates the stability of Earth-mass Trojan planets near the system's Lagrangian points.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the habitable zone in Kepler-16 using various climate models and expands stability studies for Earth-mass Trojans in the system.

Findings

Habitable zone depends on system parameters and climate models.

Earth-mass Trojans can stably exist near Lagrangian points.

Eccentricity distribution favors near-circular orbits.

Abstract

We continue to investigate the binary system Kepler-16, consisting of a K-type main-sequence star, a red dwarf, and a circumbinary Saturnian planet. As part of our study, we describe the system's habitable zone based on different climate models. We also report on stability investigations for possible Earth-mass Trojans while expanding a previous study by B. L. Quarles and collaborators given in 2012. For the climate models we carefully consider the relevance of the system's parameters. Furthermore, we pursue new stability simulations for the Earth-mass objects starting along the orbit of Kepler-16b. The eccentricity distribution as obtained prefers values close to circular, whereas the inclination distribution remains flat. The stable solutions are distributed near the co-orbital Lagrangian points, thus enhancing the plausibility that Earth-mass Trojans might be able to exist in the Kepler-16(AB) system.