Breaking long-period resonance chains with stellar flybys

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 782-0436 Macul, Santiago, Chile
² Millennium Institute for Astrophysics MAS, Nuncio Monseñor Sotero Sanz 100, Providencia, Santiago, Chile
³ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
⁴ Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA

^★ Corresponding author; ccharalambous@uc.cl

Received: 9 January 2025
Accepted: 18 March 2025

Abstract

Context. Planetary migration models predict multiple planets captured into a chain of mean-motion resonances during the disk phase. Over a dozen systems have been observed in these configurations, with nearly all close-in planets with a lack of resonant chains for planets with orbital periods longer than 300 days.

Aims. Dynamical studies often overlook the fact that stars do not evolve in isolation. In this work, we explore the possibility that the absence of giant planets in long-period resonant chains may be due to post-formation disruption caused by stellar flybys.

Methods. For planets in the 2:1-2:1 and 3:2-3:2 resonant chains, we evaluated the long-term stability after varying parameters such as the planet masses, as well as the inclination, pericentric distance, and mass of the flyby star.

Results. Our integrations show that the 2:1-2:1 resonant chain is significantly more resilient to a stellar flyby than for the 3:2-3:2 configuration. The nature of the instability is different in both scenarios; the 2:1-2:1 becomes unstable quickly, soon after a penetrative close encounter. Instead, planets in the 3:2-3:2 chain become unstable in long timescales due to more distant flybys (up to q/a_out 25 for Jupiter-mass planets) that only provide small perturbations for the system to chaotically dissolve.

Conclusions. If an encounter occurs between a star hosting planets and a passing star, Jupiter-mass systems with three planets in a 3:2-3:2 resonant chain or more compact initial configurations are likely to be disrupted.