1 research outputs found
exoMMR: a New Python Package to Confirm and Characterize Mean Motion Resonances
The study of orbital resonances allows for the constraint of planetary
properties of compact systems. We can predict a system's resonances by
observing the orbital periods of the planets, as planets in or near mean motion
resonance have period ratios that reduce to a ratio of small numbers. However,
a period ratio near commensurability does not guarantee a resonance; we must
study the system's dynamics and resonant angles to confirm resonance. Because
resonances require in-depth study to confirm, and because two-body resonances
require a measurement of the eccentricity vector which is quite challenging,
very few resonant pairs or chains have been confirmed. We thus remain in the
era of small number statistics, not yet able to perform large population
synthesis or informatics studies. To address this problem, we build a python
package to find, confirm, and analyze mean motion resonances, primarily through
N-body simulations. We then analyze all near-resonant planets in the Kepler/K2
and TESS catalogues, confirming over 60 new resonant pairs and various new
resonant chains. We additionally demonstrate the package's functionality and
potential by characterizing the mass-eccentricity degeneracy of Kepler-80g,
exploring the likelihood of an exterior giant planet in Kepler-80, and
constraining the masses of planets in Kepler-305. We find that our methods
overestimate the libration amplitudes of the resonant angles and struggle to
confirm resonances in systems with more than three planets. We identify various
systems that are likely resonant chains but that we are unable to confirm, and
highlight next steps for exoplanetary resonances.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in A