2008/11/07 by Nikolaos Georgakarakos · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14143.x
Accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2008/11/07 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In a series of papers, we developed a technique for estimating the inner eccentricity in hierarchical triple systems, with the inner orbit being initially circular. However, for certain combinations of the masses and the orbital elements, the secular part of the solution failed. In this paper, we derive a new solution for the secular part of the inner eccentricity, which corrects the previous weakness. The derivation applies to hierarchical triple systems with coplanar and initially circular orbits. The new formula is tested numerically by integrating the full equations of motion for systems with mass ratios from 10−3 to 103. We also present more numerical results for short-term eccentricity evolution, in order to get a better picture of the behaviour of the inner eccentricity.