Disruption of Planetary Orbits Through Evection Resonance with an External Companion

Disruption of Planetary Orbits Through Evection Resonance with an External Companion: Circumbinary Planets and Multiplanet Systems

Authors:

Xu et al

Abstract:

Planets around binary stars and those in multiplanet systems may experience resonant eccentricity excitation and disruption due to perturbations from a distant stellar companion. This "evection resonance" occurs when the apsidal precession frequency of the planet, driven by the quadrupole associated with the inner binary or the other planets, matches the orbital frequency of the external companion. We develop an analytic theory to study the effects of evection resonance on circumbinary planets and multiplanet systems. We derive the general conditions for effective eccentricity excitation or resonance capture of the planet as the system undergoes long-term evolution. Applying to circumbinary planets, we show that inward planet migration may lead to eccentricity growth due to evection resonance with an external perturber, and planets around shrinking binaries may not survive the resonant eccentricity growth. On the other hand, significant eccentricity excitation in multiplanet systems occurs in limited parameter space of planet and binary semimajor axes, and requires the planetary migration to be sufficiently slow.