Truly eccentric - II. When can two circular planets mimic a single eccentric orbit?
Article
Article Title | Truly eccentric - II. When can two circular planets mimic a single eccentric orbit? |
---|---|
ERA Journal ID | 1074 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Wittenmyer, Robert A. (Author), Bergmann, Christoph (Author), Horner, Jonathan (Author), Clark, Jake (Author) and Kane, Stephen R. (Author) |
Journal Title | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Journal Citation | 484 (3), pp. 4230-4238 |
Number of Pages | 9 |
Year | 2019 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
1365-2966 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz236 |
Web Address (URL) | https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/484/3/4230/5299572 |
Abstract | When, in the course of searching for exoplanets, sparse sampling and noisy data make it necessary to disentangle possible solutions to the observations, one must consider the possibility that what appears to be a single eccentric Keplerian signal may in reality be attributed to two planets in near-circular orbits. There is precedent in the literature for such outcomes, whereby further data or new analysis techniques reveal hitherto occulted signals. Here, we perform suites of simulations to explore the range of possible two-planet configurations that can result in such confusion. We find that a single Keplerian orbit with e ? 0.5 can virtually never be mimicked by such deceptive system architectures. This result adds credibility to the most eccentric planets that have been found to date, and suggests that it could well be worth revisiting the catalogue of moderately eccentric 'confirmed' exoplanets in the coming years, as more data become available, to determine whether any such deceptive couplets are hidden in the observational data. |
Keywords | numerical methods; radial velocities; planets and satellites; detection; astrophysics; Earth; planetary astrophysics |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 510109. Stellar astronomy and planetary systems |
Public Notes | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2019 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Byline Affiliations | Centre for Astrophysics |
University of New South Wales | |
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre | |
University of California, United States | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q5433/truly-eccentric-ii-when-can-two-circular-planets-mimic-a-single-eccentric-orbit
Download files
175
total views77
total downloads9
views this month2
downloads this month