Mutual Inclination Excitation by Stellar Oblateness

Ultra-short-period planets (USPs) provide important clues to planetary formation and migration. It was recently found that the mutual inclinations of the planetary systems are larger if the inner orbits are closer (≲5R*) and if the planetary period ratios are larger (P2/P1 ≳ 5). This suggests that the USPs experienced both inclination excitation and orbital shrinkage. Here we investigate the increase in the mutual inclination due to stellar oblateness. We find that the stellar oblateness (within ∼1 Gyr) is sufficient to enhance the mutual inclination to explain the observed signatures. This suggests that the USPs can migrate closer to the host star in a near coplanar configuration with their planetary companions (e.g., disk migration+tides or in situ+tides), before mutual inclination gets excited due to stellar oblateness.