Orbital resonance amplitude optimization using python

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Date
2023Author
MacDonald, Mariah G.
Patterson, Daniel
Calabrese, Nick
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Abstract
Exoplanet orbital periods, like the orbital periods of the Solar System, "synch up" on specific occasions, depending on orbital position. "Synched" orbits known as orbital resonance cause planets to exert gravitational influence over one another which can constrain, stabilize or destabilize a planet's orbit. This project seeks to efficiently simulate and analyze the resonant properties from both confirmed and hypothetical exoplanetary systems. Two planets are in an orbital resonance when they can constantly
exchange energy with each other. This happens when the ratio of their orbital periods is a ratio of small numbers, ex: one planet having a 20-day period and the other having a 10-day period would be a 2:1 resonance. Began with two methods of data collection: Drawing parameters from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, such as mass and period, and using code to imagine new systems by randomly generating those parameters. Used Python package Rebound and TCNJ’s ELSA computing cluster to run 5,000 simulations with the data. Then wrote five Python files to get resonant angles then run calculations.
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Department of Physics
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