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Solving for the Orbital Elements of Binary Systems using MCMC Simulations.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2014

Kyle Mede
Affiliation:
University of Tokyo, Room 1121, Dept. of Astronomy, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan email: kylemede@astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Timothy D. Brandt
Affiliation:
Princeton University, Room 17, Dept. of Astronomy, Peyton Hall, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001, USA email: tbrandt@astro.princeton.edu
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Abstract

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Recent simulation and observational data have been used to investigate the ability of Kozai oscillations to explain the formation of “hot Jupiter” planetary systems. One of the first exoplanets discovered, τ Boo Ab, orbits a star with a binary companion, making it an excellent testbed for this scenario. We have written a three-dimensional Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulator to constrain the orbit of the distant stellar companion τ Boo B, and are currently deriving orbital parameters and confidence intervals. These orbital parameters will confirm or reject Kozai oscillations as a plausible formation mechanism for τ Boo Ab.