Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011ess.....2.0904d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, ESS meeting #2, #9.04
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Planet-planet scattering likely plays a major role in shaping the architecture of planetary systems, producing observed populations of planets on highly eccentric orbits and on orbits misaligned from the stellar spin axis. A planetesimal disk, if present during the time of dynamical upheaval, can damp the excited orbit of a scattered planet, yet also record signatures of the planet’s inclined and eccentric period. Thus observations of remnant planetesimal disks not only serve as signposts for misaligned planets that are not directly detectable, but may also reveal the violent history of planetary systems that appear peaceful in their current configuration. Here we consider two such cases. Our own solar system’s classical Kuiper belt contains a population of dynamically “hot” objects with inclinations up to 30° overlying a flat dynamically “cold” population, with distinct physical properties. Accounting for these two populations is an outstanding problem in understanding the formation of our solar system. We fully explore a generalized model in which Neptune undergoes some combination of planet-planet scattering and planetesimal-driven migration. We assess which regions of the parameter space of Neptune’s semi-major axis; post-scattering eccentricity and inclination; and timescales of migration, precession, and eccentricity and inclination damping could account for the observed orbits of classical Kuiper Belt Objects. We then consider whether the warped disk of Beta Pictoris -- recently found to be misaligned with the known planet Beta Pictoris b -- could have been sculpted by a yet-to-be-discovered second planet. Our results will provide a framework for interpreting the structure of planetary debris disks in future high-resolution observations with ALMA and JWST.
RID gratefully acknowledges support by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grants DGE 0644491 and DGE 0946799.
Dawson Rebekah Ilene
Murray-Clay Ruth
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