English

Precise Dynamical Masses and Orbital Fits for $\beta$ Pic b and $\beta$ Pic c

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2021-03-16 v3

Abstract

We present a comprehensive orbital analysis to the exoplanets β\beta Pictoris b and c that resolves previously reported tensions between the dynamical and evolutionary mass constraints on β\beta Pic b. We use the MCMC orbit code orvara to fit fifteen years of radial velocities and relative astrometry (including recent GRAVITY measurements), absolute astrometry from Hipparcos and Gaia, and a single relative radial velocity measurement between β\beta Pic A and b. We measure model-independent masses of 9.32.5+2.6MJup9.3^{+2.6}_{-2.5}\, M_{\rm Jup} for β\beta Pic b and 8.3±1.0MJup8.3\pm 1.0\,M_{\rm Jup} for β\beta Pic c. These masses are robust to modest changes to the input data selection. We find a well-constrained eccentricity of 0.119±0.0080.119 \pm 0.008 for β\beta Pic b, and an eccentricity of 0.210.09+0.160.21^{+0.16}_{-0.09} for β\beta Pic c, with the two orbital planes aligned to within \sim0.5^\circ. Both planets' masses are within \sim1σ\sigma of the predictions of hot-start evolutionary models and exclude cold starts. We validate our approach on NN-body synthetic data integrated using REBOUND. We show that orvara can account for three-body effects in the β\beta Pic system down to a level \sim5 times smaller than the GRAVITY uncertainties. Systematics in the masses and orbital parameters from orvara's approximate treatment of multiplanet orbits are a factor of \sim5 smaller than the uncertainties we derive here. Future GRAVITY observations will improve the constraints on β\beta Pic c's mass and (especially) eccentricity, but improved constraints on the mass of β\beta Pic b will likely require years of additional RV monitoring and improved precision from future Gaia data releases.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2011.06215,
  title  = {Precise Dynamical Masses and Orbital Fits for $\beta$ Pic b and $\beta$ Pic c},
  author = {G. Mirek Brandt and Timothy D. Brandt and Trent J. Dupuy and Yiting Li and Daniel Michalik},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.06215},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Published in AJ. 16 pages, 10 figures. Fix to mismatch of columns in predicted positions

R2 v1 2026-06-23T20:07:14.003Z