{
  "abstract": "WASP-12b's orbit is decaying, for unknown reasons. The planet's period is shrinking more rapidly than can be attributed to equilibrium tides or dynamical tides in a main-sequence star. Planetary obliquity tides could be sufficiently dissipative to drive WASP-12b's inspiral, but would also damp the planet's obliquity, halting the decay. Millholland & Laughlin proposed that a nearby, low-mass planet ($\\sim 10$ M$_\\oplus$) is maintaining a large obliquity for WASP-12b, sustaining the dissipation. We re-evaluated this hypothesis, finding that the companion must be more massive than originally proposed ($\\gtrsim 65$ M$_\\oplus$) to absorb WASP-12b's orbital angular momentum. Radial velocity data allowed us to rule out a companion of this type. Any companions within $3$ AU have $K \\lesssim 14$ m/s at $95$% confidence.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.11925",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Caleb Lammers"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yubo Su"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joshua N. Winn"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/enb3kt8s6kez0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.11925",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "enb3kt8s6kez0",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11925",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.EP"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.11925",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-10",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/enb3kt8s6kez0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
      "native_id": "2609.11925",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11925"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.EP",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Mysterious Inspiral of WASP-12b: Why Obliquity Tides Cannot Drive Orbital Decay",
  "title_text": "The Mysterious Inspiral of WASP-12b: Why Obliquity Tides Cannot Drive Orbital Decay",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/enb3kt8s6kez0",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}