How would a giant planet affect binary star evolution?
15 Dec 2015There’s a problem with making short period (like, 0.2 day) M dwarf binaries. They take too long to form starting from relatively close binaries (e.g. 2 day), like… a Hubble time to lose angular momentum. Yet, we see many systems like this.
Most people seem to care right now about how binary stars will affect planet evolution (e.g. ejecting planets from systems).
3rd body interactions have always been a popular culprit for forming such tight binaries. Galactic tidal influence might be able to do it too… but that’s usually thought about for wide binaries
So the idea: Get best “Nbody model” (see my ignorance in its raw form!) of binary star system, with moderate separations (like, 1-10 days). Add a giant planet around 1 star. Run lots of simulations for 1 Gyr