Protostars and Planets VI, Heidelberg, July 15-20, 2013
Poster 2K051
Main-sequence progenitor configurations of the NN Ser candidate circumbinary planetary system are dynamically unstable
Mustill, Alexander (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Marshall, Jonathan (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Villaver, Eva (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Veras, Dimitri (University of Cambridge)
Davis, Philip (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Horner, Jonathan (University of New South Wales)
Witenmyer, Robert (University of New South Wales)
Abstract:
Recent observations of the NN Serpentis post-common envelope binary system have revealed eclipse timing variations that have been attributed to the presence of two Jovian-mass exo-planets. Under the assumption that these planets are real and survived from the binary’s Main-Sequence state, we reconstruct initial binaries that give rise to the present NN Ser configuration and test the dynamical stability of the original system. Under standard assumptions regarding binary evolution, we find that survival of the planets through the entire Main-Sequence life-time is very unlikely. Hence, we conclude that the planets are not survivors from before the Common Envelope phase, implying that either they formed recently out of material ejected from the primary, or that the observed signals are of non-planetary origin.
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