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Milenne Ávila-Bravo

Publications and source records attributed to Milenne Ávila-Bravo.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Stability of circumbinary planets: the role of binary properties and migration scenarios

Among the thousands of exoplanets detected to date, only a very small fraction are classified as circumbinary planets, and this number becomes negligible when considering low-mass planets. This rarity may partly result from observational biases, but also from the challenging dynamical environment of binary systems, which can prevent the long-term stability of planetary orbits. It is therefore essential to investigate the conditions that enable the formation and survival of stable circumbinary planets, particularly in the low-mass regime. To this end, we performed N-body simulations coupled with a planet migration prescription to study the post-formation dynamics of two 10 Earth-mass circumbinary planets in a protoplanetary disc. Based on more than 1,000 simulations, we find that inward migration can, in some cases, be halted through resonance capture with the binary. In contrast to some previous purely N-body studies, these configurations appear to remain stable over long timescales. We further find that the binary mass ratio $q_B$ and eccentricity $e_B$ strongly influence the stability of multi-planet systems. Within the explored parameter space, some regions support long-term stability, whereas others are highly unstable. These stability regions are also sensitive to the migration timescales, and therefore to disc properties and planetary masses. Finally, our simulations suggest that systems in which two planets enter resonance while migrating together are more likely to form stable multi-planet configurations, particularly around highly eccentric binaries. These results provide a first step toward identifying binary star systems that are most promising for hosting multiple low-mass circumbinary planets.

astro-ph.EP↗

Planetary architectures under the influence of a stellar binary

Context. The presence of a stellar companion can strongly influence the architecture and long-term stability of planetary systems. Motivated by the discovery of exoplanets exhibiting extremely high eccentricities (e >= 0.8) in systems with a binary companion, we investigate how planetary orbits around one star (S-type configuration) evolve under the gravitational perturbations of the companion. Aims. We aim to assess the role of a stellar companion in shaping the orbital evolution of S-type planets and to explore whether dynamical interactions in such environments can account for the formation of highly eccentric planets. Methods. We performed a suite of N-body simulations, modeling systems initially composed of three Jupiter-mass planets on nearly circular, coplanar orbits around the primary star. We systematically varied the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination of the stellar companion, to characterize the conditions under which extreme eccentricities can be excited. Results. Our results show that dynamical processes such as planet-planet scattering and secular mechanisms--including the von Zeipel-Kozai-Lidov effect induced by the binary--often act together to produce abrupt and significant changes in planetary orbital evolution, with the outcome strongly dependent on the binary separation. The binary's eccentricity primarily dictates the number of surviving planets, while its inclination not only governs the final eccentricities of those survivors but also drives their orbits to align with the binary plane. Our simulations successfully reproduce the high eccentricities and compact orbits observed in four observed systems, showing close agreement between the modeled configurations and the actual systems.

astro-ph.EP↗