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Title: FOREVER ALONE? TESTING SINGLE ECCENTRIC PLANETARY SYSTEMS FOR MULTIPLE COMPANIONS

Abstract

Determining the orbital eccentricity of an extrasolar planet is critically important for understanding the system's dynamical environment and history. However, eccentricity is often poorly determined or entirely mischaracterized due to poor observational sampling, low signal-to-noise, and/or degeneracies with other planetary signals. Some systems previously thought to contain a single, moderate-eccentricity planet have been shown, after further monitoring, to host two planets on nearly circular orbits. We investigate published apparent single-planet systems to see if the available data can be better fit by two lower-eccentricity planets. We identify nine promising candidate systems and perform detailed dynamical tests to confirm the stability of the potential new multiple-planet systems. Finally, we compare the expected orbits of the single- and double-planet scenarios to better inform future observations of these interesting systems.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Department of Astrophysics, School of Physics, Faculty of Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 (Australia)
  2. Department of Astronomy and Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)
  3. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, NW, Washington, DC 20015-1305 (United States)
  4. University of Hertfordshire, Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, College Lane, AL10 9AB Hatfield (United Kingdom)
  5. Australian Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670 (Australia)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22136521
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 208; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0067-0049
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; MONITORING; ORBITS; PLANETS; SAMPLING; SIGNALS; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO; SOLAR SYSTEM; TESTING

Citation Formats

Wittenmyer, Robert A., Horner, Jonathan, Tinney, C. G., Bailey, J., Salter, G. S., Wright, D., Songhu, Wang, Jilin, Zhou, Butler, R. P., Jones, H. R. A., O'Toole, S. J., and Carter, B. D., E-mail: rob@phys.unsw.edu.au. FOREVER ALONE? TESTING SINGLE ECCENTRIC PLANETARY SYSTEMS FOR MULTIPLE COMPANIONS. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/208/1/2.
Wittenmyer, Robert A., Horner, Jonathan, Tinney, C. G., Bailey, J., Salter, G. S., Wright, D., Songhu, Wang, Jilin, Zhou, Butler, R. P., Jones, H. R. A., O'Toole, S. J., & Carter, B. D., E-mail: rob@phys.unsw.edu.au. FOREVER ALONE? TESTING SINGLE ECCENTRIC PLANETARY SYSTEMS FOR MULTIPLE COMPANIONS. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/208/1/2
Wittenmyer, Robert A., Horner, Jonathan, Tinney, C. G., Bailey, J., Salter, G. S., Wright, D., Songhu, Wang, Jilin, Zhou, Butler, R. P., Jones, H. R. A., O'Toole, S. J., and Carter, B. D., E-mail: rob@phys.unsw.edu.au. 2013. "FOREVER ALONE? TESTING SINGLE ECCENTRIC PLANETARY SYSTEMS FOR MULTIPLE COMPANIONS". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/208/1/2.
@article{osti_22136521,
title = {FOREVER ALONE? TESTING SINGLE ECCENTRIC PLANETARY SYSTEMS FOR MULTIPLE COMPANIONS},
author = {Wittenmyer, Robert A. and Horner, Jonathan and Tinney, C. G. and Bailey, J. and Salter, G. S. and Wright, D. and Songhu, Wang and Jilin, Zhou and Butler, R. P. and Jones, H. R. A. and O'Toole, S. J. and Carter, B. D., E-mail: rob@phys.unsw.edu.au},
abstractNote = {Determining the orbital eccentricity of an extrasolar planet is critically important for understanding the system's dynamical environment and history. However, eccentricity is often poorly determined or entirely mischaracterized due to poor observational sampling, low signal-to-noise, and/or degeneracies with other planetary signals. Some systems previously thought to contain a single, moderate-eccentricity planet have been shown, after further monitoring, to host two planets on nearly circular orbits. We investigate published apparent single-planet systems to see if the available data can be better fit by two lower-eccentricity planets. We identify nine promising candidate systems and perform detailed dynamical tests to confirm the stability of the potential new multiple-planet systems. Finally, we compare the expected orbits of the single- and double-planet scenarios to better inform future observations of these interesting systems.},
doi = {10.1088/0067-0049/208/1/2},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22136521}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series},
issn = {0067-0049},
number = 1,
volume = 208,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Sun Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}