Lagrange vs. Lyapunov stability of hierarchical triple systems: dependence on the mutual inclination between inner and outer orbits

TL;DR

This study investigates the stability of hierarchical triple systems by distinguishing between Lagrange and Lyapunov stability, using long-term N-body simulations to analyze how mutual inclination affects system disruption timescales.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of Lagrange versus Lyapunov stability in triple systems, emphasizing the impact of mutual inclination and long-term simulation results.

Findings

Inclined triples with 60°<i_mut<150° are destabilized by von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov oscillations.

Retrograde triples with i_mut>160° are significantly stabilized with longer disruption times.

Normalized disruption timescale T_d/P_out varies strongly with orbital parameters.

Abstract

While there have been many studies examining the stability of hierarchical triple systems, the meaning of ``stability'' is somewhat vague and has been interpreted differently in previous literatures. The present paper focuses on ``Lagrange stability'', which roughly refers to the stability against the escape of a body from the system, or ``disruption'' of the triple system, in contrast to ``Lyapunov-like stability'' that is related to the chaotic nature of the system dynamics. We compute the evolution of triple systems using direct $N$-body simulations up to $10^7 P_\mathrm{out}$, which is significantly longer than previous studies (with $P_\mathrm{out}$ being the initial orbital period of the outer body). We obtain the resulting disruption timescale $T_\mathrm{d}$ as a function of the triple orbital parameters with particular attention to the dependence on the mutual inclination between the inner and outer orbits, $i_\mathrm{mut}$. By doing so, we have clarified explicitly the difference between Lagrange and Lyapunov stabilities in astronomical triples. Furthermore, we find that the von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov oscillations significantly destabilize inclined triples (roughly with $60^\circ < i_\mathrm{mut} < 150^\circ$) relative to those with $i_\mathrm{mut}=0^\circ$. On the other hand, retrograde triples with $i_\mathrm{mut}>160^\circ$ become strongly stabilized with much longer disruption timescales. We show the sensitivity of the normalized disruption timescale $T_\mathrm{d}/P_\mathrm{out}$ to the orbital parameters of triple system. The resulting $T_\mathrm{d}/P_\mathrm{out}$ distribution is practically more useful in a broad range of astronomical applications than the stability criterion based on the Lyapunov divergence.