Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-02-19
MNRAS 404, 1272-1280 (2010)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
17 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS (in press). Abstract slightly reduced in size, but in original form in the PDF file
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16381.x
In this work, we investigate the dynamical stability of pre-formed Neptune Trojans under the gravitational influence of the four giant planets in compact planetary architectures, over 10 Myr. In our modelling, the initial orbital locations of Uranus and Neptune (aN) were varied to produce systems in which those planets moved on non-resonant orbits, or in which they lay in their mutual 1:2, 2:3 and 3:4 mean-motion resonances (MMRs). In total, 420 simulations were carried out, examining 42 different architectures, with a total of 840000 particles across all runs. In the non-resonant cases, the Trojans suffered only moderate levels of dynamical erosion, with the most compact systems (those with aN less than or equal 18 AU) losing around 50% of their Trojans by the end of the integrations. In the 2:3 and 3:4 MMR scenarios, however, dynamical erosion was much higher with depletion rates typically greater than 66% and total depletion in the most compact systems. The 1:2 resonant scenarios featured disruption on levels intermediate between the non-resonant cases and other resonant scenarios, with depletion rates of the order of tens of percent. Overall, the great majority of plausible pre-migration planetary architectures resulted in severe levels of depletion of the Neptunian Trojan clouds. In particular, if Uranus and Neptune formed near their mutual 2:3 or 3:4 MMR and at heliocentric distances within 18 AU (as favoured by recent studies), we found that the great majority of pre-formed Trojans would have been lost prior to Neptune's migration. This strengthens the case for the great bulk of the current Neptunian Trojan population having been captured during that migration.
Horner Jonathan
Jones Barrie W.
Mukai Tadashi
Sofia Lykawka Patryk
No associations
LandOfFree
Formation and Dynamical Evolution of the Neptune Trojans - the Influence of the Initial Solar System Architecture does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Formation and Dynamical Evolution of the Neptune Trojans - the Influence of the Initial Solar System Architecture, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Formation and Dynamical Evolution of the Neptune Trojans - the Influence of the Initial Solar System Architecture will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-363335