The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Dynamical characterization of the multiple planet system GJ 1148 and prospects of habitable exomoons around GJ 1148 b

TL;DR

This study refines the orbital dynamics of the GJ 1148 system, revealing long-term stability without resonances, and assesses the potential for habitable exomoons, concluding their unlikely existence due to tidal decay.

Contribution

It provides a detailed dynamical analysis of GJ 1148 using new and archival RV data, and evaluates the habitability prospects of exomoons around GJ 1148 b.

Findings

GJ 1148 system is long-term stable with apsidal alignment.

GJ 1148 b is within the habitable zone.

Exomoons around GJ 1148 b are unlikely due to tidal decay.

Abstract

Context. GJ 1148 is an M-dwarf star hosting a planetary system composed of two Saturn-mass planets in eccentric orbits with periods of 41.38 and 532.02 days. Aims. We reanalyze the orbital configuration and dynamics of the GJ 1148 multi-planetary system based on new precise radial velocity (RV) measurements taken with CARMENES. Methods. We combined new and archival precise Doppler measurements from CARMENES with those available from HIRES for GJ 1148 and modeled these data with a self-consistent dynamical model. We studied the orbital dynamics of the system using the secular theory and direct N-body integrations. The prospects of potentially habitable moons around GJ 1148 b were examined. Results. The refined dynamical analyses show that the GJ 1148 system is long-term stable in a large phase-space of orbital parameters with an orbital configuration suggesting apsidal alignment, but not in any particular high-order mean-motion resonant commensurability. GJ 1148 b orbits inside the optimistic habitable zone (HZ). We find only a narrow stability region around the planet where exomoons can exist. However, in this stable region exomoons exhibit quick orbital decay due to tidal interaction with the planet. Conclusions. The GJ 1148 planetary system is a very rare M-dwarf planetary system consisting of a pair of gas giants, the inner of which resides in the HZ. We conclude that habitable exomoons around GJ 1148 b are very unlikely to exist.