Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21912203k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #122.03
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Observations indicate that the gaseous circumstellar disks around young stars vary significantly in size, ranging from tens to thousands of AU. Models of planet formation depend critically upon the properties of these primordial disks, yet in general it is impossible to connect an existing planetary system with a observed disk. We present a method to constrain the size of our own protosolar nebula using the properties of small body reservoirs in the solar system. After Jupiter formed, it scattered a significant number of remnant planetesimals into highly eccentric orbits. If there had been a massive, extended protoplanetary disk at that time, then the disk would have excited Kozai oscillations in some of the scattered objects, driving them into high-inclination, low-eccentricity orbits. The dissipation of the gaseous disk would strand a population of objects in these high-inclination orbits; orbits that are stable on Gyr time scales. Using limits derived from the non-detection of these high inclination objects in the Deep Ecliptic Sky Survey, we can constrain the size of our gaseous protoplanetary disk at the time of Jupiter's formation to within 50 AU.
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