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Semi-analytical theory of motion for the PSR B1257+12 planetary system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Maciej Konacki
Affiliation:
Toruń Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Gagarina 11, Poland
Andrzej J. Maciejewski
Affiliation:
Toruń Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Gagarina 11, Poland
Alex Wolszczan
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802, USA Toruń Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University ul. Gagarina 11, 87-100 Toruń, Poland

Extract

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A planetary system around the pulsar B1257+12 has three planets A, B and C with the orbital periods of 25, 66 and 98 days, respectively (Wolszczan 1994). Dynamical properties of the system have been thoroughly studied by Rasio et al. (1993) and Malhotra (1993). They demonstrated that the gravitational interactions between planets B and C are significant enough to be detected. In such case, the motion of the system is no longer Keplerian and it is necessary to use a more precise description of motion in order to model the data properly. In this paper we derive a semi-analytical theory of motion assuming that the relative inclination of the orbits is small. We perform numerical simulations to show that our theory sucessfully predicts times of arrival of pulsar pulses and allows a determination of orbital inclinations and hence the masses of planets B and C.

Type
Part 2. Timing, General Relativity and Astrometry
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2000

References

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