Tidal dissipation in stars and fluid planetary layers and its impact on the evolution of star-planet systems

¹ IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, UMR 8028 du CNRS, UPMC, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France
² Laboratoire AIM Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM - CNRS - Université Paris Diderot, IRFU/SAp Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
³ SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, UMR 8630 du CNRS, UPMC, 77 Av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France

^a e-mail: pierre.auclair-desrotour@obspm.fr
^b e-mail: stephane.mathis@cea.fr
^c e-mail: christophe.leponcin@obspm.fr

Published online: 23 September 2015

Abstract

Tidal dissipation in stars and planets is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of planetary systems. It intrinsically depends on the nature of the tidal response of celestial bodies, which is directly linked to their internal structure and friction. Indeed, it is highly resonant in the case of fluids. In this work, we present a local analytical modeling of tidal gravito-inertial waves, which can be excited in stars and fluid planetary layers. This model allows us to understand the properties of their resonant dissipation as a function of the excitation frequencies, the rotation, the stratification, and the viscous and thermal properties of the studied fluid regions. Next, we introduce such a complex tidal dissipation frequency-spectra in a celestial mechanics numerical code to give a qualitative overview of its impact on the evolution of planetary systems. We consider the example of a two-body coplanar system with a punctual perturber orbiting a central fluid body. We demonstrate how the viscous dissipation of tidal waves can lead to a strongly erratic orbital evolution. Finally, we characterize such a non-regular dynamics as a function of the properties of resonances, which have been determined thanks to our local fluid model.