A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Stability of hierarchical triples - II. The inclination iota=140 degrees resonance in the stability surface




AuthorsPasechnik Alexey, Mylläri Aleksandr, Valtonen Mauri, Mikkola Seppo

PublisherOXFORD UNIV PRESS

Publication year2023

JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Journal name in sourceMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Journal acronymMON NOT R ASTRON SOC

Volume525

Issue2

First page 1929

Last page1935

Number of pages7

ISSN0035-8711

eISSN1365-2966

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2372(external)

Web address https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/525/2/1929/7236882(external)

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/181199078(external)


Abstract

The stability of a hierarchical triple star may be decided by a simple criterion, which was derived in Paper I. However, there is a region in the phase space where the stability limit Qmax is raised by a factor of two in a small region of the phase space with respect to the surrounding phase space. The phase space is defined by the inner and outer eccentricities ein and eout, respectively, as well as by the inclination ιtot between the inner and outer orbits. Additional parameters of the phase space are the masses of the three bodies. We study by numerical integration the orbits of over 100 000 triple systems in the resonance region. We find that the instability that causes the high value of Qmax arises from the octupole Kozai-Lidov resonance. This resonance region has rather equal contributions from the quadrupole and octupole terms and leads to secular evolution with an amplitude larger than either of the two oscillations in isolation. The conditions for this situation are best satisfied near the relative inclination ι = 140°. Additionally, the relative orientation of the two orbits plays a decisive role: the resonance is found only at certain values of the orbit's node line longitude Ω. An analytical approximation of the energy change in a single close encounter between the inner and outer systems suggests a cos 2Ω dependence of Qmax on Ω, which seems to be qualitatively valid. We model Qmax as a function of cos ι and ein by a Gaussian function.


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Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 16:25