Tidal evolution of circumbinary planets
by
Sala de Conferências
Departamento de Física FCTUC
Most of the confirmed circumbinary (CB) planets are located very close to their host binaries. At such distances, tidal forces are expected to play an important role in their rotational and orbital evolutions. The peculiarity of the CB context is that, in such a case, the tidal torques exerted by the secondary star on the planets are of the same order respect to those exerted by the central star, so that the stationary rotational states and directions of migrations are severely affected.
In this seminar, I review the main results obtained in the last couple of years researching this problem, in the framework of my doctoral research in Córdoba. We have employed two different tidal models: Contant Time Lag and Newtonian Creep, and used analytical, semi-analytical and numerical tools to characterize the tidal evolution of CB planets. We considered a wide range of system parameters and tidal dissipation factors, and particularly applied our models to the observed Kepler systems.
In the near future, we intend to improve and adapt our models to apply them to the Pluto-Charon system, the most important binary system in our Solar System.
Paulo Brás e Pedro Costa