Exoplanetology: Exoplanets & Exomoons

Asteroid Flux Towards Circumprimary Habitable Zones in Binary Star Systems: Dynamics

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
astro-ph.EP
December 31, 2015
Filed under
Asteroid Flux Towards Circumprimary Habitable Zones in Binary Star Systems: Dynamics

Secular and mean motion resonances (hearafter MMR) are effective perturbations to shape planetary systems.

In binary star systems, they play a key role during the early and late phases of planetary formation as well as the dynamical stability of a planetary system.

In this study, we aim to correlate the presence of orbital resonances with the rate of icy asteroids crossing the habitable zone (hearafter HZ), from a circumprimary disk of planetesimals in various binary star systems. We modelled a belt of small bodies in the inner and outer regions, respectively below and beyond the orbit of a gas giant planet. The planetesimals are equally placed around a primary G-type star and move under the gravitational influence of the two stars and the gas giant. We numerically integrated the system for 50 Myr considering various parameters for the secondary star. Its stellar type varies from a M- to F-type; its semimajor axis is either 50 au or 100 au and its eccentricity is either 0.1 or 0.3.

Our simulations highlight that a disk of planetesimals will suffer from perturbations due to a perturbed gas giant, mean motion and secular perturbations. We show that a secular perturbation — which location and width vary according to the secondary star’s characteristics — can exist in the region of the icy asteroid belt region and overlap with MMRs which will have an impact on the dynamical lifetime of the disk. In addition, we point out that in any case, the 2:1 MMR, the 5:3 MMR and the secular perturbed area are powerful perturbations for the transport of icy material into the HZ.

D. Bancelin, E. Pilat-Lohinger, A. Bazso
(Submitted on 30 Dec 2015)

Comments: Submitted to A&A
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:1512.08875 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1512.08875v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: David Bancelin
[v1] Wed, 30 Dec 2015 08:11:28 GMT (201kb)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1512.08875

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