Kavli Affiliate: Andrew Vanderburg
| First 5 Authors: Malena Rice, Konstantin Gerbig, Andrew Vanderburg, ,
| Summary:
The current orbital geometries of exoplanet systems offer a fossilized record
of the systems’ dynamical histories. A particularly rich set of dynamical
mechanisms is available to exoplanets residing in multi-star systems, which may
have their evolution shaped by the gravitational influence of bound stellar
companions. In this work, we examine the joint distribution of stellar
obliquities and orbital orientations for transiting exoplanets residing within
astrometrically resolved binary and triple-star systems. We leverage existing
constraints on stellar obliquities in exoplanet systems, together with
astrometric measurements from Gaia DR3, to uncover a set of fully-aligned,
"orderly" exoplanet systems that exhibit evidence of both spin-orbit and
orbit-orbit alignment. We also find evidence that the observed distribution of
orbit-orbit orientations in our sample is more strongly peaked toward alignment
than an isotropic distribution. Our results may be indicative of efficient
viscous dissipation by nodally recessing protoplanetary disks, demonstrating a
regime in which stellar companions produce and maintain order in planetary
systems, rather than enhancing misalignments.
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