Habitability of Stellar Binary Systems

Abstract

A comprehensive approach is provided to the study of habitable zones (HZs) for both S-type and P-type cases of stellar binary systems for both circular and elliptical orbits of the binary components, based on habitability limits for the Sun from previous work. Habitable regions are determined through the consideration of a joint constraint, including the planetary orbital stability and the extent of the radiative habitable zones (RHZs). The HZs are classified based on solar system habitability limits, which also consider different climate models. In this work, the new climate model published by Kopparapu in 2014 is used for RHZ calculation. Comparisons among results from different climate models are made and previous work based on old climate models are introduced. Furthermore, fitting formulae for the quick determination of existence of S-type and P-type Habitable Zones are derived and applied to real systems. The fitting formulae, which are based on Kopparapu’s climate model, will be very useful because: (1) the observational uncertainties can be considered in a straightforward manner; (2) the fitting formulae are focusing on main-sequence stars, of which most systems are expected to consist.