More support for the extreme S-type retrograde planet in the spectroscopic binary ν Octantis
Abstract
ν Octantis is a single-lined spectroscopic binary system consisting of a K-giant primary and a secondary orbiting near 1050 days. Radial velocity observations reveal an additional ~400 day periodicity with a semi-amplitude of 40 m/s. If this signal is planetary in nature, the ν Octantis system would be unique amongst all known exoplanet systems in that long-term stability can only be achieved if the orbit is retrograde with respect to the stellar companions (i.e. mutual inclination ~ 180°).Spectral line analyses suggest this signal is unlikely to be due to surface activity or pulsations (Ramm 2015). We also rule out an exotic scenario where the secondary itself is a binary.We report an analysis of 1437 radial velocity measurements taken with HERCULES at the Mt. John Observatory spanning nearly 13 years, 1180 being new iodine iodine-cell velocities (2009-2013). The sensitive orbital dynamics of the two-companion model allow us to constrain the three-dimensional orbital architecture directly from the observations. Posterior samples obtained from an n-body Markov chain Monte Carlo (Nelson et al. 2014) yields a mutual inclination of 158.4 ± 1.2°. None of these are dynamically stable beyond 106 years. However, a grid search around the posterior sample suggests that they are in close proximity to a region of parameter space that is stable for at least 106 years.If real, the tight orbital architecture here imposes a considerable challenge for formation of this dynamically extreme system.
- Publication:
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AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015ESS.....340206N