Chaos in the test particle eccentric Kozai-Lidov mechanism

Journal Article · Wed Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/86· OSTI ID:22365339

Li, Gongjie; Naoz, Smadar; Holman, Matt; Loeb, Abraham ^[1]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, The Institute for Theory and Computation, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

The Kozai-Lidov mechanism can be applied to a vast variety of astrophysical systems involving hierarchical three-body systems. Here, we study the Kozai-Lidov mechanism systematically in the test particle limit at the octupole level of approximation. We investigate the chaotic and quasi-periodic orbital evolution by studying the surfaces of section and the Lyapunov exponents. We find that the resonances introduced by the octupole level of approximation cause orbits to flip from prograde to retrograde and back as well as cause significant eccentricity excitation, and chaotic behavior occurs when the mutual inclination between the inner and the outer binary is high. We characterize the parameter space that allows large amplitude oscillations in eccentricity and inclination.

• OSTI ID: 22365339
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 791, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
APPROXIMATIONS
ASTROPHYSICS
CHAOS THEORY
COSMOLOGY
EVOLUTION
EXCITATION
INCLINATION
LYAPUNOV METHOD
OCTUPOLES
ORBITS
OSCILLATIONS
PERIODICITY
RESONANCE
SIMULATION
SPACE
SURFACES
TEST PARTICLES
THREE-BODY PROBLEM