Jonathan Horner, Robert A Wittenmyer, Jonathan P Marshall, Chris G Tinney, Oliver W Butters
In early 2011, the discovery of two planets moving on surprisingly extreme
orbits around the eclipsing polar cataclysmic variable system HU Aquraii was
announced based on variations in the timing of mutual eclipses between the two
central stars. We perform a detailed dynamical analysis of the stability of the
exoplanet system as proposed in that work, revealing that it is simply
dynamically unfeasible. We then apply the latest rigorous methods used by the
Anglo-Australian Planet Search to analyse radial velocity data to re-examine
the data used to make the initial claim. Using that data, we arrive at a
significantly different orbital solution for the proposed planets, which we
then show through dynamical analysis to be equally unfeasible. Finally, we
discuss the need for caution in linking eclipse-timing data for cataclysmic
variables to the presence of planets, and suggest a more likely explanation for
the observed signal.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.5730
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