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R. Barnes, T. Quinn (University of Washington)
The discovery of many new systems of planets permits new studies in planetary dynamics. Here we explore the available parameter space (as constrained by observations) of several of these systems to search for stable configurations, and to draw general conclusions about the dynamics of planetary systems. Specifically we examine HD82943, GJ876, HD83443, 47 UMa, HD168443, Upsilon Andromedae, and our Solar System. For each system we performed 1000 simulations, integrating for order 106 years. The planetary systems examined here fall into two distinct classifcations: resonant systems (HD82943, & GJ876), and non-resonant systems (the remaining). In resonant systems very few stable configurations exist (2-15% of simulations survived to 106 years), and stability is highly dependent on the initial conditions. Resonant systems can not be in perfect resonance; they must lie just beyond the 2:1 mean motion resonance to survive. Non-resonant systems have much larger zones of stability (~80% of the simulations survived), but regions of instability still exist. For these systems large values of eccentricity lead to unstable configurations. We note that the current best fit values for the orbital elements of each of these systems (except HD168443) places them very close to instability.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: rory@astro.washington.edu