Related papers: Dynamical Instabilities in High-Obliquity Systems
We study the dynamics of the 3-D three-body problem of a small body moving under the attractions of a star and a giant planet which orbits the star on a much wider and elliptic orbit. In particular, we focus on the influence of an eccentric…
Large dips in the brightness for a number of stars have been observed, for which the tentative explanation is occultation of the star by a transiting circumplanetary disk or ring system. In order for the circumplanetary disk/rings to block…
Kozai-Lidov oscillations of Jupiter-mass planets, excited by comparable planetary or brown dwarf mass perturbers were recently shown in numerical experiments to be slowly modulated and to exhibit striking features, including extremely high…
This paper presents elements about the radial orbit instability, which occurs in spherical self-gravitating systems with a strong anisotropy in the radial velocity direction. It contains an overview on the history of radial orbit…
We explore the impact of obliquity variations on planetary habitability in hypothetical systems with high mutual inclination. We show that large amplitude, high frequency obliquity oscillations on Earth-like exoplanets can suppress the…
The Kozai mechanism for exponentially exciting eccentricity of a Keplerian orbit by a distant perturber is extended to a general perturbing potential. In particular, the case of an axisymmetric potential is solved analytically. The analysis…
With n-body simulations and analytic approximations we study the dynamics and stability of low eccentricity misaligned test particles around binary systems with varying mass fraction and eccentricity. General relativity (GR) plays a primary…
Changes in planetary obliquity, or axial tilt, influence the climates on Earth-like planets. In the solar system, the Earth's obliquity is stabilized due to interactions with our moon and the resulting {small amplitude variations…
We study the dynamical evolution of a test particle that orbits a star in the presence of an exterior massive planet, considering octupole-order secular interactions. In the standard Kozai mechanism (SKM), the planet's orbit is circular,…
The most puzzling property of the extrasolar planets discovered by recent radial velocity surveys is their high orbital eccentricities, which are very difficult to explain within our current theoretical paradigm for planet formation.…
In 1962, Yoshihide Kozai reported his findings on the secular dynamics of asteroids moving in orbits with high inclination and eccentricity. In contrast to the classic understanding of the stability of planetary motion in the solar system,…
The stellar spin orientation relative to the orbital planes of multiplanet systems are becoming accessible to observations. Here, we analyze and classify different types of spin-orbit evolution in compact multiplanet systems perturbed by an…
Many exoplanets in close-in orbits are observed to have relatively high eccentricities and large stellar obliquities. We explore the possibility that these result from planet-planet scattering by studying the dynamical outcomes from a large…
Observations of exoplanets have revealed that systems with planets on closely-spaced orbits are common, which motivates the question "How closely can planets orbit to one another and still be dynamically-stable for very long times?". To…
Stationary stellar systems with radially elongated orbits are subject to radial orbit instability -- an important phenomenon that structures galaxies. Antonov (1973) presented a formal proof of the instability for spherical systems in the…
The atmospheres of hot Jupiters and other strongly-forced exoplanets are susceptible to a thermal instability in the presence of ohmic dissipation, weak magnetic drag and strong winds. The instability occurs in radiatively-dominated…
We hereby study the stability of a massless probe orbiting around an oblate central body (planet or planetary satellite) perturbed by a third body, assumed to lie in the equatorial plane (Sun or Jupiter for example) using an Hamiltonian…
The tilt of a planet's spin axis off its orbital axis ("obliquity") is a basic physical characteristic that plays a central role in determining the planet's global circulation and energy redistribution. Moreover, recent studies have also…
We analytically calculate the marginally stable surface density profile for rotational instability of protoplanetary disks. The derived profile can be utilized for considering the region in a rotating disk where radial pressure gradient…
In this paper we study the location and stability of the collinear Lagrangian points for the RTBP for the case in which one of the primary bodies is radiating and the other is oblate. We consider the effect of Poynting-Roberson drag and…