Search

In hierarchical triple systems, the inner binary is slowly perturbed by a distant companion, giving rise to large-scale oscillations in eccentricity and inclination, known as von-Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai (ZLK) oscillations. Stable systems with a mild hierarchy, where the period ratio is not too small, require an additional corrective term, known as the Brown Hamiltonian, to adequately account for their long-term evolution. Although the Brown Hamiltonian has been used to accurately describe the highly eccentric systems on circulating orbits where the periapse completes a complete revolution, the analysis near its elliptical fixed points had been overlooked. We derive analytically the modified fixed points including the Brown Hamiltonian and analyse its librating orbits (where the periapse motion is limited in range). We compare our result to the direct three-body integrations of millions of orbits and discuss the regimes of validity. We numerically discover the regions of orbital instability, allowed and forbidden librating zones with a complex, fractal, structure. The retrograde orbits, where the mutual inclination is $\iota > 90\ \rm deg$, are more stable and allowed to librate for larger areas of the parameter space. We find numerical fits for the librating-circulating boundary. Finally, we discuss the astrophysical implications for systems of satellites, stars and compact objects. In a companion paper (paper II), we apply our formalism to the orbits of irregular satellites around giant planets., Comment: MNRAS accepted

Irregular satellites (IS) are believed to have been captured during the Solar system's dynamical history and provide clues for the Solar system's formation and evolution. IS occupy a large fraction of the Hill sphere of their host planet and their orbits are highly perturbed by the Sun. We use a novel formalism developed in paper I to characterise their orbits in terms of an effective secular Hamiltonian (the Brown Hamiltonian) that accounts for their large orbital separations. We find that prograde satellites generally follow the Brown Hamiltonian, while retrograde satellites (which extend further) deviate more significantly. Nevertheless, the phase portrait is much better described by the Brown Hamiltonian for all satellites. We construct a semi-analytic criterion that predicts the librating orbit based on the effective energy due to the Brown Hamiltonian. We also check our results with highly accurate N-body integrations of satellite orbits, where initial conditions are loaded directly from the updated ephemeris from the NASA Horizons database. Although the retrograde librating orbits occupy more area in the parameter space, the vast majority of librating IS are prograde. Using our method we find $13$ librating satellites, $8$ of them previously known to librate, and the rest shown to librate for the first time. Further observations of existing and new satellites could shed more light on the dynamical history of the Solar system and satellite formation and test our results., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

Stellar-mass black hole binaries (BHBs) in galactic nuclei are gravitationally perturbed by the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) of the host galaxy, potentially inducing strong eccentricity oscillations through the eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) mechanism. These highly eccentric binaries emit a train of gravitational-wave (GW) bursts detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) -- a planned space-based GW detector -- with signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) up to ${\sim}100$ per burst. In this work, we study the GW signature of BHBs orbiting our galaxy's SMBH, Sgr A$^*$, which are consequently driven to very high eccentricities. We demonstrate that an unmodeled approach using a wavelet decomposition of the data effectively yields the time-frequency properties of each burst, provided that the GW frequency peaks between $10^{-3}\,\,\mathrm{Hz}$--$10^{-1}\,\,\mathrm{Hz}$. The wavelet parameters may be used to infer the eccentricity of the binary, measuring $\log_{10}(1-e)$ within an error of $20\%$. Our proposed search method can thus constrain the parameter space to be sampled by complementary Bayesian inference methods, which use waveform templates or orthogonal wavelets to reconstruct and subtract the signal from LISA data., Comment: 11 pages, 5+1 figures. Accepted to ApJL

Context: Many barriers prevent dust to form planetesimals via coagulation in protoplanetary discs, such as bouncing, collisional fragmentation or aeolian erosion. Modelling dust and the different phenomena that can alter its evolution is therefore needed. Multiple solutions have been proposed, but still need to be confirmed. Aims: In this paper, we explore the role aeolian erosion plays in the evolution of dust. Methods: We use a monodisperse model to account for dust growth and fragmentation, implemented in a 1D model to compute the evolution of single grains and a 3D SPH code to compute the global evolution of dust and gas. We test the erosion model in our code and ensured it matches previous results. Results: With a model of disc reproducing observations, we show with both 1D and 3D studies that erosion is not significant during the evolution of dust when we take fragmentation into consideration. With a low-viscosity disc, fragmentation is less of a problem, but grain growth is also less important, preventing the formation of large objects anyway. In dust traps, close to the star, erosion is also not impactful, even when fragmentation is turned off. Conclusions: We show in this paper that aeolian erosion is negligible when radial drift, fragmentation and dust traps are taken into account and does not alter the dust evolution in the disc. However, it can have an impact on later stages, i.e. when the streaming instability forms large clumps close to the star, or when planetesimals are captured., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Accretion discs in active galactic nuclei (AGN) foster black hole (BH) formation, growth, and mergers. Stellar mass BHs migrate inwards under the influence of hydrodynamical torques unless they encounter a region where the torque flips sign. At these migration traps, BHs accumulate and merge via dynamical or gas-assisted interactions, producing high-frequency LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) sources and potentially cutting off the supply of extreme mass ratio inspirals that would otherwise make low-frequency, {\it LISA}-band GWs. In this paper, we study the interplay between different types of migration torques, focusing especially on the ``thermal torques'' generated by the thermal response of the AGN to embedded stellar-mass BHs that accrete through their own mini-discs.In contrast to previous work, we find that Type I torques cannot produce migration traps on their own, but thermal torques often do, particularly in low-mass AGN. The migration traps produced by thermal torques exist at much larger radii ($\sim 10^{3-5}$ gravitational radii) than do previously identified Type I traps, carrying implications for GW populations at multiple frequencies. Finally, we identify a bifurcation of AGN discs into two regimes: migration traps exist below a critical AGN luminosity, and do not at higher luminosities. This critical luminosity is fit as $\log_{10} L_{\rm AGN}^c = 45 - 0.32 \log_{10}{(\alpha/0.01)}$ where $\alpha$ is the AGN alpha viscosity parameter, a range compatible with recent claims that LVK GWs are not preferentially associated with high-luminosity AGN., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

The suite of over 60 known planetary debris discs which orbit white dwarfs, along with detections of multiple minor planets in these systems, motivate investigations about the migration properties of planetesimals embedded within the discs. Here, we determine whether any of the migration regimes which are common in (pre-)main-sequence protoplanetary discs, debris discs and ring systems could be active and important in white dwarf discs. We investigate both dust-dominated and gas-dominated regions, and quantitatively demonstrate that Type I and Type II migration, as well as their particulate disc analogues, are too slow to be relevant in white dwarf discs. However, we find that the analogue of Type III migration for particulate discs may be rapid in the dusty regions of asteroid- or moon-generated ($>10^{18}$ kg) white dwarf discs, where a planetesimal exterior to its Roche radius may migrate across the entire disc within its lifetime. This result holds over a wide range of disc boundaries, both within and exterior to $1R_{\odot}$, and such that the probability of migration occurring increases with higher disc masses., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; corrected typos in Table 1 and References section

In addition to a supermassive black hole (SMBH), the central parsec of the Milky Way hosts over a hundred of massive, high velocity young stars whose existence, and organisation of a subset of them in one, or possibly two, mis-aligned disks, is puzzling. Due to a combination of low medium density and strong tidal forces in the vicinity of Sgr A*, stars are not expected to form. Here we propose a novel scenario for their in-situ formation: a jetted tidal disruption event (TDE) from an older wandering star triggers an episode of positive feedback of star formation in the plane perpendicular to the jet, as demonstrated via numerical simulations in the context of jet-induced feedback in galactic outflows. An over-pressured cocoon surrounding the jet shock-compresses clumps to densities high enough to resist the SMBH tidal field. The TDE rate of $10^{-5}-10^{-4}$ yr$^{-1}$ per galaxy, out of which a few percent events are jetted, implies a jetted TDE event per galaxy to occur every few million years. This timescale is interestingly of the same order of the age of the disk stars. The mass function predicted by our mechanism is top-heavy. Additionally, since TDEs are isotropic, our model predicts a random orientation for the disk of stars with respect to the plane of the galaxy and, due to the relatively high TDE rate, it can account for multiple disks of stars with uncorrelated orientations., Comment: ApJL in press

The three-body problem is famously chaotic, with no closed-form analytical solutions. However, hierarchical systems of three or more bodies can be stable over indefinite timescales. A system is considered hierarchical if the bodies can be divided into separate two-body orbits with distinct time- and length-scales, such that one orbit is only mildly affected by the gravitation of the other bodies. Previous work has mapped the stability of such systems at varying resolutions over a limited range of parameters, and attempts have been made to derive analytic and semi-analytic stability boundary fits to explain the observed phenomena. Certain regimes are understood relatively well. However, there are large regions of the parameter space which remain un-mapped, and for which the stability boundary is poorly understood. We present a comprehensive numerical study of the stability boundary of hierarchical triples over a range of initial parameters. Specifically, we consider the mass ratio of the inner binary to the outer third body ($q_{\rm out}$), mutual inclination ($i$), initial mean anomaly and eccentricity of both the inner and outer binaries ($e_{\rm in}$ and $e_{\rm out}$ respectively). We fit the dependence of the stability boundary on $q_{\rm out}$ as a threshold on the ratio of the inner binary's semi-major axis to the outer binary's pericentre separation $a_{\rm in}/R_{\rm p, out} \leq 10^{-0.6 + 0.04q_{\rm out}}q_{\rm out}^{0.32+0.1q_{\rm out}}$ for coplanar prograde systems. We develop an additional factor to account for mutual inclination. The resulting fit predicts the stability of $10^4$ orbits randomly initialised close to the stability boundary with $87.7\%$ accuracy., Comment: Accepted to PASA

Triple stars and compact objects are ubiquitously observed in nature. Their long-term evolution is complex; in particular, the von-Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai (ZLK) mechanism can potentially lead to highly eccentric encounters of the inner binary. Such encounters can lead to a plethora of interacting binary phenomena, as well as stellar and compact-object mergers. Here we find explicit analytical formulae for the maximal eccentricity, $e_{\rm max}$, of the inner binary undergoing ZLK oscillations, where both the test particle limit (parametrised by the inner-to-outer angular momentum ratio $\eta$) and the double-averaging approximation (parametrised by the period ratio, $\epsilon_{\rm SA}$) are relaxed, for circular outer orbits. We recover known results in both limiting cases (either $\eta$ or $\epsilon_{\rm SA} \to 0$) and verify the validity of our model using numerical simulations. We test our results with two accurate numerical N-body codes, $\texttt{Rebound}$ for Newtonian dynamics and $\texttt{Tsunami}$ for general-relativistic (GR) dynamics, and find excellent correspondence. We discuss the implications of our results for stellar triples and both stellar and supermassive triple black hole mergers.

TIC 470710327, a massive compact hierarchical triple-star system, was recently identified by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TIC 470710327 is comprised of a compact (1.10 d) circular eclipsing binary, with total mass $\approx 10.9-13.2\ \rm{M_{\odot}}$, and a more massive ($\approx 14-17\ \rm{M_{\odot}}$) eccentric non-eclipsing tertiary in a $52.04$ d orbit. Here we present a progenitor scenario for TIC 470710327 in which '2+2' quadruple dynamics result in Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai (ZLK) resonances that lead to a contact phase of the more massive binary. In this scenario, the two binary systems should form in a very similar manner, and dynamics trigger the merger of the more massive binary either during late phases of star formation or several Myr after the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS), when the stars begin to expand. Any evidence that the tertiary is a highly-magnetised ($\sim 1-10$ kG), slowly-rotating blue main-sequence star would hint towards a quadruple origin. Finally, our scenario suggests that the population of inclined, compact multiple-stellar systems is reduced into co-planar systems, via mergers, late during star formation or early in the main sequence. The elucidation of the origin of TIC 470710327 is crucial in our understanding of multiple massive-star formation and evolution., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication at MNRAS Letters

Recent surveys show that wide ($>10^4$ AU) binaries and triples are abundant in the field. We study the long-term evolution of wide hierarchical triple systems and the role played by the Galactic tidal (GT) field. We find that when the timescales of the secular von-Ziepel-Lidov-Kozai and the GT oscillations are comparable, triple evolution becomes chaotic which leads to extreme eccentricities. Consequently, the close pericentre approaches of the inner-binary components lead to strong interactions, mergers and collisions. We use a novel secular evolution code to quantify the key parameters and carry out a population-synthesis study of low and intermediate-mass wide-orbit triples. We find that in $\sim9\%$ of low-mass wide-triples the inner main-sequence binaries collide or tidally-inspiral within $10\ \rm Gyr$, with direct collisions are $6$ times more likely to occur. For the intermediate-mass sample, $\sim7.6\%$ of the systems merge or inspiral with roughly equal probabilities. We discuss the relative fractions of different stellar merger/inspiral outcomes as a function of their evolutionary stage (Main-Sequence, MS; Red-Giant, RG; or White-Dwarf, WD), their transient electromagnetic signatures and the final products of the merger/inspiral. In particular, the rate of WD-WD direct-collisions that lead to type-Ia Supernovae is comparable to other dynamical channels and accounts for at most $0.1\%$ of the observed rate. RG inspirals provide a novel channel for the formation of eccentric common-envelope-evolution binaries. The catalysis of mergers/collisions in triples due to GT could explain a significant fraction, or even the vast majority, of blue-stragglers in the field, produce progenitors for cataclysmic-variables, and give-rise to mergers/collisions of double-RG binaries., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

Hot and warm Jupiters (HJs and WJs correspondingly) are gas-giants orbiting their host stars at very short orbital periods ($P_{HJ}<10$ days; $10

Hot and Warm Jupiters (HJs&WJs) are gas-giant planets orbiting their host stars at short orbital periods, posing a challenge to their efficient in-situ formation. Therefore, most of the HJs&WJs are thought to have migrated from an initially farther-out birth locations. Current migration models, i.e disc-migration (gas-dissipation driven) and eccentric-migration (tidal evolution driven), fail to produce the occurrence rate and orbital properties of HJs&WJs. Here we study the role of the thermal evolution and its coupling to tidal evolution. We use the AMUSE, numerical environment, and MESA, planetary evolution modeling, to model in detail the coupled internal and orbital evolution of gas-giants during their eccentric-migration. In a companion paper, we use a simple semi-analytic model, validated by our numerical model, and run a population-synthesis study. We consider the initially inflated radii of gas-giants (expected following their formation), as well study the effects of the potential slowed contraction and even re-inflation of gas-giants (due to tidal and radiative heating) on the eccentric-migration. Tidal forces that drive eccentric-migration are highly sensitive to the planetary structure and radius. Consequently, we find that this form of inflated eccentric-migration operates on significantly (up to an order of magnitude) shorter timescales than previously studied eccentric-migration models. Thereby, inflated eccentric-migration gives rise to more rapid formation of HJs&WJs, higher occurrence rates of WJs, and higher rates of tidal disruptions, compared with previous eccentric migration models which consider constant ~Jupiter radii for HJ&WJ progenitors. Coupled thermal-dynamical evolution of eccentric gas-giants can therefore play a key-role in their evolution., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are prominent environments for stellar capture, growth and formation. These environments may catalyze stellar mergers and explosive transients, such as thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae (SNe). SN explosions in AGN discs generate strong shocks, leading to unique observable signatures. We develop an analytical model which follows the evolution of the shock propagating in the disc until it eventually breaks out. We derive the peak luminosity, bolometric lightcurve, and breakout time. The peak luminosities may exceed $10^{45}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and last from hours to days. The brightest explosions occur in regions of reduced density; either off-plane, or in discs around low-mass central black holes ($\sim 10^6\ M_\odot$), or in starved subluminous AGNs. Explosions in the latter two sites are easier to observe due to a reduced AGN background luminosity. We perform suites of 1D Lagrangian radiative hydrodynamics SNEC code simulations to validate our results and obtain the luminosity in different bands, and 2D axisymmetric Eulerian hydrodynamics code HORMONE simulations to study the morphology of the ejecta and its deviation from spherical symmetry. The observed signature is expected to be a bright blue, UV, or X-ray flare on top of the AGN luminosity from the initial shock breakout, while the subsequent red part of the lightcurve will largely be unobservable. We estimate the upper limit for the total event rate to be $\mathcal{R}\lesssim 100\ \rm yr^{-1}\ Gpc^{-3}$ for optimal conditions and discuss the large uncertainties in this estimate. Future high-cadence transient searches may reveal these events. Some existing tidal disruption event candidates may originate from AGN supernovae., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

White dwarf (WD) pollution is thought to arise from the tidal disruption of planetary bodies. The initial fragment stream is extremely eccentric, while observational evidence suggest that discs are circular or nearly so. Here we propose a novel mechanism to bridge this gap and show that the fragments can rapidly circularise through dust or gas drag when they interact with a pre-existing compact disc. We assume that the tidal stream mainly consists of small cohesive fragments in the size range 10-1000 m, capable of resisting the WD tidal forces, whereas the compact discs span a wide mass range. We provide an analytical model, accompanied by N-body simulations, and find a large parameter space in fragment sizes and orbital separation that leads to full circularization. Partial circularization is possible for compact discs that are several orders of magnitudes less massive. We show that dust-induced circularization inherently produces gas as tidal fragments collisionally vaporize the pre-existing dust along their path. We show that ongoing gas production has a higher probability to occur during the early stages of tidal disruption events, resulting from the fact that smaller fragments are the first to circularize. Intermittent gas production however becomes more likely as the tidal stream matures. This could explain why only a small subset of systems with dusty compact discs also have an observed gaseous component. Additionally, the interaction yields fragment erosion by collisional shattering, sputtering, sublimation and possibly ram-pressure. Material scattered by the collisions might form a thin dusty halo that evolves through PR drag, in compatibility with observed infrared variability.

The Pluto-Charon binary system is the best-studied representative of the binary Kuiper-belt population. Its origins are vital to understanding the formation of other Kupier-belt objects (KBO) and binaries, and the evolution of the outer solar-system. The Pluto-Charon system is believed to form following a giant impact between two massive KBOs at relatively low velocities. However, the likelihood of a random direct collision between two of the most massive KBOs is low, and is further constrained by the requirement of a low-velocity collision, making this a potentially fine-tuned scenario. Here we expand our previous studies and suggest that the proto-Pluto-Charon system was formed as a highly inclined wide-binary, which was then driven through secular/quasi-secular evolution into a direct impact. Since wide-binaries are ubiquitous in the Kuiper-belt with many expected to be highly inclined, our scenario is expected to be robust. We use analytic tools and few-body simulations of the triple Sun-(proto-)Pluto-Charon system to show that a large parameter-space of initial conditions leads to such collisions. The velocity of such an impact is the escape velocity of a bound system, which naturally explains the low-velocity impact. The dynamical evolution and the origins of the Pluto-Charon system could therefore be traced to similar secular origins as those of other binaries and contact-binaries (e.g. Arrokoth), and suggest they play a key role in the evolution of KBOs.

The formation of the first planetesimals and the final growth of planetary cores relies on the abundance of small pebbles. The efficiencies of both the streaming instability (SI) process, suggested to catalyze the early growth of planetesimals, and the pebble-accretion process, suggested to accelerate the growth of planetary cores, depend on the sizes of solids residing in the disk. In particular, these processes were found to be sensitive to size distribution of solids, and efficient planetesimal formation and growth through these channels require a limited pebble size distribution. Here we show that aeolian erosion, a process that efficiently grinds down boulders into a mono-sized distribution of pebbles, provides a natural upper limit for the maximal pebble sizes (in terms of their Stokes number). We find the dependence of this upper limit on the radial separation, disk age, turbulence strength, and the grain-size composition of the boulders in the disk. SI is favorable in areas with a Stokes number less than 0.1, which is found in the inner sub-astronomical-unit regions of the disk. This upper limit shapes the size distribution of small pebbles and thereby catalyzes the early onset of planetesimal formation due to SI, and the later core accretion growth through pebble accretion., Comment: Published in ApJL

Scalar, tensor waves induce oscillatory perturbations in Keplerian systems that can be probed with measurements of pulsar timing residuals. In this paper, we consider the imprint of coherent oscillations produced by ultralight axion dark matter on the Roemer time delay. We use the angle-action formalism to calculate the time evolution of the observed signal and its dependence on the orbital parameters and the axion phase. We derive exact analytical expressions for arbitrary binary pulsar mass ratio and eccentricity, alleviating the need for long numerical integrations. We emphasize the similarity of the expected signal-to-noise ratio with the response of a harmonic oscillator to an external oscillatory driving. We validate our theoretical predictions with numerical simulations. Our results furnish a useful benchmark for numerical codes and analysis procedures and, hopefully, will motivate the search for such imprints in real data., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures (v2): moderate revision. matches the published manuscript (v3): references added

Following its flyby and first imaging the Pluto-Charon binary, the New Horizons spacecraft visited the Kuiper-Belt-Object (KBO) (486958) 2014 MU69 (Arrokoth). Imaging showed MU69 to be a contact-binary, made of two individual lobes connected by a narrow neck, rotating at low spin period (15.92 h), and having high obliquity (~98 deg), similar to other KBO contact-binaries inferred through photometric observations. The origin of such peculiar configurations is puzzling, and all scenarios suggested for the origins of contact-binaries fail to reproduce such properties and their likely high frequency. Here we show that semi-secular perturbations operating only on ultra-wide (~0.1-0.4 Hill-radius) KBO-binaries can robustly lead to gentle, slow-speed binary mergers at arbitrarily high obliquities, but low rotational velocities, that can reproduce MU69's (and similar oblique contact binaries) characteristics. Using N-body simulations, we find that ~15% of all ultra-wide binaries with cosine-uniform inclination distribution are likely to merge through this process. Moreover, we find that such mergers are sufficiently gentle as to only slightly deform the KBO shape, and can produce the measured rotation speed of MU69. The semi-secular contact-binary formation channel not only explains the observed properties of MU69, but could also apply for other Kuiper/asteroid belt binaries, and for Solar/extra-solar moon systems., Comment: Submitted on 27 June 2019

Tertiary tides (TTs), or the continuous tidal distortion of the tertiary in a hierarchical triple system, can extract energy from the inner binary, inducing within it a proclivity to merge. Despite previous work on the subject, which established that it is significant for certain close triple systems, it is still not a well-understood process. A portion of our ignorance in this regard stems from our inability to integrate a simulation of this phenomenon into conventional stellar evolution codes, since full calculations of these tidal interactions are computationally expensive on stellar evolution timescales. Thus, to attain a better understanding of how these TTs act on longer timescales, an empirical expression of its effects as a function of parameters of the triple system involved is required. In our work, we evaluate the rate at which TTs extract energy from the inner binary within a series of constructed hierarchical triple systems under varying parameters, and study the rate at which the inner binary orbital separation shrinks as a function of those parameters. We find that this rate varies little with the absolute values of the masses of the three component objects, but is very sensitive to the mass ratio of the inner binary $q$, the tertiary radius $R_{\rm 3}$, the inner binary orbital separation $a_{\rm 1}$, the outer orbital separation $a_{\rm 2}$, and the viscoelastic relaxation time of the tertiary $\tau$. More specifically, we find that the percentage by which $a_{\rm 1}$ shrinks per unit time can be reasonably approximated by (1/$a_{\rm 1}$)(d$a_{\rm 1}$/d$t$)=$\left(2.22{\times}10^{-8}{\rm yrs}^{-1}\right)4q\left(1+q\right)^{-2}(R_{\rm 3}/100{\rm R}_{\odot})^{5.2}(a_{\rm 1}/0.2{\rm AU})^{4.8}(a_{\rm 2}/2{\rm AU})^{-10.2}$ $({\tau}/0.534{\rm yrs})^{-1.0}$. We also provide tests of how precise this fitting function is., Comment: 8 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables

Aeolian-erosion is a destructive process which can erode small-size planetary objects through their interaction with a gaseous environment. Aeolian-erosion operates in a wide range of environments and under various conditions. Aeolian-erosion has been extensively explored in the context of geophysics in terrestrial planets. Here we show that aeolian-erosion of cobbles, boulders and small planetesimals in protoplanetary-discs can constitute a significant barrier for the early stages of planet formation. We use analytic calculations to show that under the conditions prevailing in protoplanetary-discs small bodies ($10-10^4 \rm{m}$) are highly susceptible to gas-drag aeolian-erosion. At this size-range aeolian-erosion can efficiently erode the planetesimals down to tens-cm size and quench any further growth of such small bodies. It thereby raises potential difficulties for channels suggested to alleviate the metre-size barrier. Nevertheless, the population of $\sim$decimetre-size cobbles resulting from aeolian-erosion might boost the growth of larger (>km size) planetesimals and planetary embryos through increasing the efficiency of pebble-accretion, once/if such large planetesimals and planetary embryos exist in the disc., Comment: Comments are welcome. Accepted to MNRAS

The discovery of the intact minor planet embedded in the debris disc orbiting SDSS J1228+1040 raises questions about the dynamical history of the system. Further, the recent passage of the potentially interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua within the solar system has re-ignited interest in minor body flux through exoplanetary systems. Here, we utilize the new analytical formalism from Grishin, Perets and Avni (2019) to estimate the rate at which the gaseous components of typical white dwarf discs trap an exo-planetesimal. We compare the types of captured orbits which arise from planetesimals originating from the interstellar medium, exo-Kuiper belts and exo-Oort clouds. We find that the rate of interstellar medium injection is negligible, whereas capture of both exo-Kuiper and exo-Oort cloud planetesimals is viable, but strongly size-dependent. For a gaseous disc which extends much beyond its Roche limit, capture is more probable than disruption at the Roche limit. We find that the capture probability linearly increases with the radial extent of the disc. Even in systems without minor planets, capture of smaller bodies will change the disc size distribution and potentially its temporal variability. Our formalism is general enough to be applied to future discoveries of embedded planetesimals in white dwarf debris discs., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the extent to which resonances between an oscillating background of ultra-light axion and a binary Keplerian system can affect the motion of the latter. These resonances lead to perturbations in the instantaneous time-of-arrivals, and to secular variations in the period of the binary. While the secular changes at exact resonance have recently been explored, the instantaneous effects have been overlooked. In this paper, we examine the latter using N-body simulations including the external oscillatory forcing induced by the axion background. While the secular effects are restricted to a narrow width near the resonance, the instantaneous changes, albeit strongest close to resonances, are apparent for wide range of configurations. We compute the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a function of semi-major axis for a detection of axion oscillations through the R\{o} mer delay. The latter can be extracted from the time-of-arrivals of binary pulsars. The SNR broadly increases with increasing binary eccentricity in agreement with the secular expectation. However, we find that it differs significantly from the scaling a^{5/2} around the lowest orders of resonance. Future observations could probe these effects away from resonances and, therefore, constrain a much broader range of axion masses provided that binary pulsar systems are found near the central region of our Galaxy, and that the time-or-arrival measurement accuracy reaches < 10 ns, Comment: Published in JCAP

Detection of gravitational-wave (GW) sources enables the characterisation of binary compact objects and of their in-spiral. However, other dissipative processes can affect the in-spiral. Here we show that the in-spiral of compact objects through a gaseous common-envelope (CE) arising from an evolved stellar companion produces a novel type of GW-sources, whose evolution is dominated by the dissipative gas dynamical friction effects from the CE, rather than the GW-emission itself. The evolution and properties of the GW-signals differ from those of isolated gas-poor mergers significantly. We find characteristic strains of $\sim10^{-23}$-$10^{-21}$ ($10{\rm kpc}/{D}$) for such sources -- observable by next-generation space-based GW-detectors. The evolution of the GW-signal can serve as a probe of the interior regions of the evolved star, and the final stages of CE-evolution, otherwise inaccessible through other observational means. Moreover, such CE-mergers are frequently followed by observable explosive electromagnetic counterparts and/or the formation of exotic stars., Comment: Submitted for publication. Comments are welcome

Nuclear star clusters surrounding supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei contain large numbers of stars, black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs), a fraction of which are likely to form binaries. These binaries were suggested to form a triple system with the SMBH, which acts as a perturber and may enhance BH and NS mergers via the Lidov-Kozai mechanism. We follow-up previous studies, but for the first time perform an extensive statistical study of BH-BH, NS-NS and BH-NS binary mergers by means of direct high-precision regularized $N$-body simulations, including Post-Newtonian (PN) terms up to order PN2.5. We consider different SMBH masses, slopes for the BH mass function, binary semi-major axis and eccentricity distributions, and different spatial distributions for the binaries. We find that the merger rates are a decreasing function of the SMBH mass and are in the ranges $\sim 0.17$-$0.52 \ \mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, $\sim 0.06$-$0.10 \ \mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ and $\sim 0.04$-$0.16 \ \mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ for BH-BH, BH-NS and NS-NS binaries, respectively. However, the rate estimate from this channel remains highly uncertain and depends on the specific assumptions regarding the star-formation history in galactic nuclei and the supply rate of compact objects. We find that $\sim 10\%$--$20\%$ of the mergers enter the LIGO band with eccentricities $\gtrsim 0.1$. We also compare our results to the secular approximation, and show that $N$-body simulations generally predict a larger number of mergers. Finally, these events can also be observable via their electromagnetic counterparts, thus making these compact object mergers especially valuable for cosmological and astrophysical purposes., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 5 Tables, accepted by MNRAS

In hierarchical triple systems, the inner binary is perturbed by a distant companion. For large mutual inclinations, the Lidov-Kozai mechanism secularly excites large eccentricity and inclination oscillations of the inner binary. The maximal eccentricity attained, $e_{\rm max}$ is simply derived and widely used. However, for mildly hierarchical systems (i.e. the companion is relatively close and massive), non-secular perturbations affect the evolution. Here we account for fast non-secular variations and find new analytic formula for $e_{{\rm max}}$, in terms of the system's hierarchy level, correcting previous work and reproducing the orbital flip criteria. We find that $e_{{\rm max}}$ is generally enhanced, allowing closer encounters between the inner binary components, thus significantly changing their interaction and its final outcome. We then extend our approach to include additional relativistic and tidal forces. Using our results, we show that the merger time of gravitational-wave (GW) sources orbiting massive black-holes in galactic nuclei is enhanced compared with previous analysis accounting only for the secular regime. Consequently, this affects the distribution and rates of such GW sources in the relevant mild-hierarchy regime. We test and confirm our predictions with direct N-body and 2.5-level Post-Newtonian codes. Finally, we calculate the formation and disruption rates of hot-Jupiters (HJ) in planetary systems using a statistical approach, which incorporates our novel results for $e_{{\rm max}}$. We find that more HJ migrate from further out, but they are also tidally disrupted more frequently. Remarkably, the overall formation rate of HJs remains similar to that found in previous studies. Nevertheless, the different rates could manifest in different underlying distribution of observed warm-Jupiters., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

Planet formation begins with collisional growth of small planetesimals accumulating into larger ones. Such growth occurs while planetesimals are embedded in a gaseous protoplanetary disc. However, small-planetesimals experience collisions and gas-drag that lead to their destruction on short timescales, not allowing, or requiring fine tuned conditions for the efficient growth of $\sim$ metre-size objects. Here we show that $\sim10^{4}$ interstellar objects such as the recently detected 1I/2017-U1 ('Oumuamua) could have been captured, and become part of the young Solar System, together with up to hundreds of $\sim$ km sized ones. The capture rates are robust even for conservative assumptions on the protoplanetary disc structure, local stellar environment and planetesimal ISM density. 'Seeding' of such planetesimals then catalyze further planetary growth into planetary embryos, and potentially alleviate the main-challenges with the meter-size growth-"barrier". The capture model is in synergy with the current leading planet formation theories, providing the missing link to the first planetesimals. Moreover, planetesimal capture provides a far more efficient route for lithopanspermia than previously thought., Comment: MNRAS submitted, comments are welcome

We study the chaotic and secular evolution of hierarchical quadruple systems in the $3+1$ configuration, focusing on the evolution of mutual inclination of the inner binaries as the system undergoes coupled Lidov-Kozai (LK) oscillations. We include short-range forces (SRF; such as those due to tidal and rotational distortions) that control the eccentricity excitation of the inner binary. The evolution of mutual inclination is described, a priori, by two dimensionless parameters, $\pazocal{R}_0$, the ratio between the inner and outer LK time-scales and $\epsilon_{SRF}$, the ratio between the SRF precession and the inner LK precession rates. We find that the chaotic zones for the mutual inclination depend mainly on $\pazocal{R}_0$, while $\epsilon_{SRF}$ controls mainly the range of eccentricity excitation. The mutual inclination evolves chaotically for $1\lesssim \pazocal{R}_0\lesssim 10$, leading to large misalignments. For $0.4 \lesssim \pazocal{R}_0 \lesssim 0.8$, the system could be weakly excited and produce bimodal distribution of mutual inclination angles. Our results can be applied to exomoons-planets in stellar binaries and Warm/Hot Jupiters in stellar triples. Such systems could develop large mutual inclination angles if the inner binary is tight enough, and also high eccentricities, depending of the strength of the short-range forces. Future detections of tilted Warm/Hot Jupiters and exomoons could put our mechanism under observational tests., Comment: Sumbitted to MNRAS, comments are welcome

A fundamental aspect of the three-body problem is its stability. Most stability studies have focused on the co-planar three-body problem, deriving analytic criteria for the dynamical stability of such pro/retrograde systems. Numerical studies of inclined systems phenomenologically mapped their stability regions, but neither complement it by theoretical framework, nor provided satisfactory fit for their dependence on mutual inclinations. Here we present a novel approach to study the stability of hierarchical three-body systems at arbitrary inclinations, which accounts not only for the instantaneous stability of such systems, but also for the secular stability and evolution through Lidov-Kozai cycles and evection. We generalize the Hill-stability criteria to arbitrarily inclined triple systems, explain the existence of quasi-stable regimes and characterize the inclination dependence of their stability. We complement the analytic treatment with an extensive numerical study, to test our analytic results. We find excellent correspondence up to high inclinations $(\sim120^{\circ}$), beyond which the agreement is marginal. At such high inclinations the stability radius is larger, the ratio between the outer and inner periods becomes comparable, and our secular averaging approach is no longer strictly valid. We therefore combine our analytic results with polynomial fits to the numerical results to obtain a generalized stability formula for triple systems at arbitrary inclinations. Besides providing a generalized secular-based physical explanation for the stability of non co-planar systems, our results have direct implications for any triple systems, and in particular binary planets and moon/satellite systems; we briefly discuss the latter as a test case for our models., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

One of first the stages of planet formation is the growth of small planetesimals and their accumulation into large planetesimals and planetary embryos. This early stage occurs much before the dispersal of most of the gas from the protoplanetary disk. At this stage gas-planetesimal interactions play a key role in the dynamical evolution of \emph{single} intermediate-mass planetesimals ($m_{p}\sim10^{21}-10^{25}g$) \emph{through gas dynamical friction} (GDF). A significant fraction of all Solar system planetesimals (asteroids and Kuiper-belt objects) are known to be binary planetesimals (BPs). Here, we explore the effects of GDF on the evolution of \emph{binary} planetesimals embedded in a gaseous disk using an N-body code with a fiducial external force accounting for GDF. We find that GDF can induce binary mergers on timescales shorter than the disk lifetime for masses above $m_{p}\gtrsim10^{22}g$ at 1AU, independent of the binary initial separation and eccentricity. Such mergers can affect the structure of merger-formed planetesimals, and the GDF-induced binary inspiral can play a role in the evolution of the planetesimal disk. In addition, binaries on eccentric orbits around the star may evolve in the supersonic regime, where the torque reverses and the binary expands, which would enhance the cross section for planetesimal encounters with the binary. Highly inclined binaries with small mass ratios, evolve due to the combined effects of Kozai-Lidov cycles with GDF which lead to chaotic evolution. Prograde binaries go through semi-regular Kozai-Lidov evolution, while retrograde binaries frequently flip their inclination and $\sim50\%$ of them are destroyed., Comment: Accepted to Apj

The dwarf planet Pluto is known to host an extended system of five co-planar satellites. Previous studies have explored the formation and evolution of the system in isolation, neglecting perturbative effects by the Sun. Here we show that secular evolution due to the Sun can strongly affect the evolution of outer satellites and rings in the system, if such exist. Although precession due to extended gravitational potential from the inner Pluto-Charon binary quench such secular evolution up to $a_{crit}\sim0.0035$ AU ($\sim0.09$ $R_{Hill}$ the Hill radius; including all of the currently known satellites), outer orbits can be significantly altered. In particular, we find that \emph{co-planar} rings and satellites should not exist beyond $a_{crit}$; rather, satellites and dust particles in these regions secularly evolve on timescales ranging between $10^{4}-10^{6}$ yrs, and quasi-periodically change their inclinations and eccentricities through secular evolution (Lidov-Kozai oscillations). Such oscillations can lead to high inclinations and eccentricities, constraining the range where such satellites (and dust particles) can exist without crossing the orbits of the inner satellites, or crossing the outer Hill stability range. Outer satellites, if such exist are therefore likely to be \emph{irregular} satellites, with orbits limited to be non-circular and/or highly inclined. These could be potentially detected and probed by the New-Horizon mission, possibly providing direct evidence for the secular evolution of the Pluto satellite system, and shedding new light on its origins., Comment: Comments are welcome

The growth of small planetesimals into large planetary embryos occurs much before the dispersal of the gas from the protoplanetary disk. The planetesimal - gaseous-disk interactions give rise to migration and orbital evolution of the planetesimals/planets. Small planetesimals are dominated by aerodynamic gas drag. Large protoplanets, $m\sim0.1M_{\oplus}$, are dominated by type I migration \emph{differential} torque. There is an additional mass range, $m\sim10^{21}-10^{25}g$ of \emph{intermediate mass} planetesimals (IMPs), where gravitational interactions with the disk dominate over aerodynamic gas drag, but for which such interactions were typically neglected. Here we model these interactions using the \emph{gas dynamical friction} (GDF) approach, previously used to study the disk-planet interactions at the planetary mass range. We find the critical size where GDF dominates over gas drag, and then study the implications of GDF on single IMPs. We find that planetesimals with small inclinations rapidly become co-planar. Eccentric orbits circularize within a few Myrs, provided the the planetesimal mass is large, $m\gtrsim10^{23}g$ and that the initial eccentricity is low, $e\lesssim0.1$. Planetesimals of higher masses, $m\sim10^{24}-10^{25}g$ inspiral on a time-scale of a few Myrs, leading to \emph{an embryonic migration} to the inner disk. This can lead to an over-abundance of rocky material (in the form of IMPs) in the inner protoplanetary disk ($<1$AU) and induce rapid planetary growth. This can explain the origin of super-Earth planets. In addition, GDF damps the velocities of IMPs, thereby cooling the planetesimal disk and affecting its collisional evolution through quenching the effects of viscous stirring by the large bodies., Comment: Accepted to ApJ