The quest for companions to post-common envelope binaries IV: The 2:1 mean-motion resonance of the planets orbiting NN Serpentis

Abstract

We present 69 new mid-eclipse times of the young post-common envelope binary (PCEB) NN Ser, which was previously suggested to possess two circumbinary planets. We have interpreted the observed eclipse-time variations in terms of the light-travel time effect caused by two planets, exhaustively covering the multi-dimensional parameter space by fits in the two binary and ten orbital parameters. We supplemented the fits by stability calculations for all models with an acceptable chi-square. An island of secularly stable 2:1 resonant solutions exists, which coincides with the global chi-square minimum. Our best-fit stable solution yields current orbital periods P_o = 15.47 yr and P_i = 7.65 yr and eccentricities e_o = 0.14 and e_i = 0.22 for the outer (o) and inner (i) planets, respectively. The companions qualify as giant planets, with masses of 7.0 M_Jup and 1.7 M_Jup for the case of orbits coplanar with that of the binary. The two-planet model that starts from the present system parameters has a lifetime greater than 10^8 yr, which significantly exceeds the age of NN Ser of 10^6 yr as a PCEB. The resonance is characterized by libration of the resonant variable Theta_1 and circulation of omega_i-omega_o, the difference between the arguments of periapse of the two planets. No stable non-resonant solutions were found, and the possibility of a 5:2 resonance suggested previously by us is now excluded at the 99.3% confidence level.