Breaking the Mass Inclination Degeneracy of Radial Velocity Measurements via Monitoring von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai Cycles: Implications in the HD 41004 System

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that long-term radial velocity monitoring of the HD 41004 system can reveal the von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai mechanism's signatures, enabling the determination of the true planetary mass by breaking the mass-inclination degeneracy.

Contribution

We show how the vZLK mechanism induces observable RV signatures in the HD 41004 system, providing a method to constrain orbital inclination and true planetary mass.

Findings

High mutual inclination up to 75° is dynamically stable.

Secular variations produce measurable RV signatures over decades.

Eccentric vZLK accelerates RV drifts, aiding detection.

Abstract

We investigate the dynamical stability of the S-type planet in the compact binary HD 41004. Using $N$-body simulations, we find that the planet could be dynamically stable at a mutual angle inclination up to $\sim75^\circ$. The von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai (vZLK) mechanism becomes active when the mutual inclination is greater than 39.2$^\circ$. High-inclination orbits exhibit coupled oscillations in eccentricity and inclination, along with apsidal precession. Synthetic radial velocity (RV) modeling shows that these secular variations produce measurable signatures across a broad range of timescales, from full vZLK cycles to observationally accessible decades. For instance, a high mutual inclination at 75$^\circ$ can induce RV drifts exceeding 5 m s$^{-1}$ per planetary orbit ($\sim 1.9 \,\text{m s}^{-1}\, \text{yr}^{-1}$) in circular binary configurations. The presence of eccentric vZLK further accelerates these drifts, enhancing the detectability. Long-term RV observations of this system offer a unique pathway to dynamically constrain the orbital inclination, and thus determine the true mass of HD 41004 Ab. The degeneracy of mass-inclination is well known when using RV measurements alone. Our results highlight that HD 41004Ab and potentially other S-type planets in compact binaries are promising targets for breaking such a degeneracy by studying the dynamics induced by the vZLK mechanism through long-term high-precision RV monitoring.