Chaotic Dynamics of Stellar Spin in Binaries and the Production of Misaligned Hot Jupiters

Understand

Many exoplanetary systems containing hot Jupiters are observed to have highly misaligned orbital axes relative to the stellar spin axes.

• Kozai-Lidov oscillations of orbital eccentricity/inclination induced by a binary companion, in conjunction with tidal dissipation, is a major channel for the production of hot Jupiters.
• We demonstrate that gravitational interaction between the planet and its oblate host star can lead to chaotic evolution of the stellar spin axis during Kozai cycles.
• As parameters such as the planet mass and stellar rotation period vary, periodic islands can appear in an ocean of chaos, in a manner reminiscent of other dynamical systems.