Final destination: the rol of gravitational interactions in planet survival during and after RGB

M.P. RONCO; D. VERAS; M. SCHREIBER; J. CUADRA; C. GIUPPONE; O. GUILERA

Punta del Este

Taller; X Taller De Ciencias Planetarias; 2020

Sede Maldonado del Centro Universitario Regional del Este (CURE)

The final fate of our Sun is a well-known fact: in about 6 Giga years from now our star will evolve into a red giant and finally end its life as a white dwarf. This stellar metamorphosis will occur to virtually all currently known host stars of planetary systems and is therefore crucial for the fate of nearly all known planetary systems. Planets with separations below 1 au will be engulfed and evaporated during the giant phase and planets located at orbital distances of several au will survive the stellar evolution of their host stars. However, the final destiny of planets located in between these extremes, at a few au, is less clear as tidal forces and orbit expansion due to stellar mass loss can nearly cancel out each other. These critical cases have so far been studied semi-analytically and only considering a single planet. Here, we present preliminary results on the evolution of a planetary system affected by mass loss and stellar tides incorporating both phenomena simultaneously in an N-body code. In particular, we analyze the role played by the gravitational interactions between a massive outer planet and a less massive inner planet concerning the survival of the latter.