Abstract
Determining habitable zones in binary star systems can be a challenging task due to the combination of perturbed planetary orbits and varying stellar irradiation conditions. The concept of “dynamically informed habitable zones” allows us, nevertheless, to make predictions on where to look for habitable worlds in such complex environments. Dynamically informed habitable zones have been used in the past to investigate the habitability of circumstellar planets in binary systems and Earth-like analogs in systems with giant planets. Here, we extend the concept to potentially habitable worlds on circumbinary orbits. We show that habitable zone borders can be found analytically even when another giant planet is present in the system. By applying this methodology to Kepler-16, Kepler-34, Kepler-35, Kepler-38, Kepler-64, Kepler-413, Kepler-453, Kepler-1647, and Kepler-1661 we demonstrate that the presence of the known giant planets in the majority of those systems does not preclude the existence of potentially habitable worlds. Among the investigated systems Kepler-35, Kepler-38, and Kepler-64 currently seem to offer the most benign environment. In contrast, Kepler-16 and Kepler-1647 are unlikely to host habitable worlds.
Highlights
Over the past three decades exoplanet researchers have discovered more than four thousands planets outside our Solar System1
We show that habitable zone borders can be found analytically even when another giant planet is present in the system
We present an analytical approach to determine dynamically informed habitable zones in binary star systems with a circumbinary giant planet
Summary
Over the past three decades exoplanet researchers have discovered more than four thousands planets outside our Solar System. A number of planets have been found to reside in binary stars systems, some of which even orbit both stars (e.g., Doyle et al, 2011; Welsh et al, 2012; Kostov et al, 2014) We refer to the latter as circumbinary planets. We improve on previous analytic estimates for circumbinary dynamically informed habitable zones and extend the concept to systems that are known to host an additional giant planet.
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