Dr. Dimitri Veras
UF

University of Florida Astronomy Colloquium - Sept. 12th, 2007

Analytical and Numerical Techniques for Detailing Extrasolar Planetary Dynamics

Characteristics of extrasolar planetary systems have introduced dynamical challenges which appeal to both centuries-old celestial mechanics and to the latest, quickest numerical integration schemes. I will demonstrate how N-body scattering simulations can often reproduce features of known exosystems, as well as suggest traits of as-yet-undetected systems. For multi-planet exosystems dominated by secular perturbations, I have extended Laplace-Lagrange secular theory to fourth order, and will discuss the applicability of this extension by comparing the results with those from classical theory and hierarchical octupole-level theory. For resonantly-dominated systems, I have developed a term-based resonant integrator, and will present the discrepancies in the results between full N-body simulations and approximations which entail highlighting only a few dominant arguments, a simplification often invoked to yield compact analytical results. I will conclude with a discussion of the predictive power of these techniques regarding future exoplanet searches.