English

Evolution of the Planetary Obliquity: The Eccentric Kozai-Lidov Mechanism Coupled with Tide

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2024-06-04 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

The planetary obliquity plays a significant role in determining physical properties of planetary surfaces and climate. As direct detection is constrained due to the present observation accuracy, kinetic theories are helpful to predict the evolution of the planetary obliquity. Here the coupling effect between the eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) effect and the equilibrium tide is extensively investigated, the planetary obliquity performs to follow two kinds of secular evolution paths, based on the conservation of total angular momentum. The equilibrium timescale of the planetary obliquity teqt_{\mathrm{eq}} varies along with rtr_{t}, which is defined as the initial timescale ratio of the tidal dissipation and secular perturbation. We numerically derive the linear relationship between teqt_{\mathrm{eq}} and rtr_{t} with the maximum likelihood method. The spin-axis orientation of S-type terrestrials orbiting M-dwarfs reverses over 9090^\circ when rt>100r_{t} > 100, then enter the quasi-equilibrium state between 4040^\circ and 6060^\circ, while the maximum obliquity can reach 130130^\circ when rt>104r_{t} > 10^4 . Numerical simulations show that the maximum obliquity increases with the semi-major axis ratio a1a_1/a2a_2, but is not so sensitive to the eccentricity e2e_2. The likelihood of obliquity flip for S-type terrestrials in general systems with a2<45a_2 < 45 AU is closely related to m1m_1. The observed potential oblique S-type planets HD 42936 b, GJ 86 Ab and τ\tau Boot Ab are explored to have a great possibility to be head-down over the secular evolution of spin.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.13923,
  title  = {Evolution of the Planetary Obliquity: The Eccentric Kozai-Lidov Mechanism Coupled with Tide},
  author = {Xiumin Huang and Jianghui Ji and Shangfei Liu and Ruobing Dong and Su Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.13923},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

18 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ