On the stability of planetary orbits in binary star systems I. The S-type orbits

TL;DR

This study investigates the long-term stability of S-type planetary orbits in binary star systems through high-precision numerical simulations, analyzing how various parameters influence orbit stability and critical semi-major axes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of planetary orbit stability in binary systems using high-order integration, extending previous models to include massive planets and detailed instability statistics.

Findings

Identifies a significant number of marginally stable orbits.

Confirms the critical semi-major axis dependence on mass ratio and eccentricity.

Shows that massive planets slightly decrease the critical semi-major axis.

Abstract

Many exoplanets are discovered in binary star systems in internal or in circumbinary orbits. Whether the planet can be habitable or not depends on the possibility to maintain liquid water on its surface, and therefore on the luminosity of its host stars and on the dynamical properties of the planetary orbit. The trajectory of a planet in a double star system can be determined, approximating stars and planets with point masses, by solving numerically the equations of motion of the classical three-body system. In this study, we analyze a large data set of planetary orbits, made up with high precision long integration at varying: the mass of the planet, its distance from the primary star, the mass ratio for the two stars in the binary system, and the eccentricity of the star motion. To simulate the gravitational dynamics, we use a 15th order integration scheme (IAS15, available within the REBOUND framework), that provides an optimal solution for long-term integration. In our data analysis, we evaluate if an orbit is stable or not and also provide the statistics of different types of instability: collisions with the primary or secondary star and planets ejected away from the binary star system. Concerning the stability, we find a significant number of orbits that are only marginally stable, according to the classification introduced by Musielak et al. 2005. For planets of negligible mass, we estimate the critical semi-major axis $a_c$ as a function of the mass ratio and the eccentricity of the binary, in agreement with the results of Holman and Wiegert 1999. However, we find that for very massive planets (Super-Jupiters) the critical semi-major axis decrease in some cases by a few percent, compared to cases in which the mass of the planet is negligible.