2004MNRAS.351.1043E

The dynamical structure of the habitable zone in the multiple exoplanetary systems HD 38529, HD 168443 and HD 169830 is investigated. By using long-time numerical integration and fast chaos-detection methods, it is shown that the habitable zone of all three systems is mostly chaotic. There is a stable region between the two known planets only in the system HD 38529, near the inner edge of the habitable zone, where a third planet could exist. This region is stable for a wide range of orbital eccentricity and mass of the larger outer planet. The stability region is divided by higher-order mean motion resonances, which are studied in detail. It seems that higher-order resonances are important in exoplanetary systems due to the large planetary masses and large orbital eccentricities.