EVIDENCE FOR SLOW MIGRATION OF NEPTUNE FROM THE INCLINATION DISTRIBUTION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS

By D. Nesvorný. 2015

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Much of the dynamical structure of the Kuiper Belt can be explained if Neptune migrated over several AU, and/or if Neptune was scattered to an eccentric orbit during planetary instability. An outstanding problem with the existing formation models is that the distribution of orbital inclinations they predicted is narrower than the one inferred from observations. Here we perform numerical simulations of Kuiper Belt formation starting from an initial state with Neptune at 20 < a N , 0 < 30 ?> AU and a dynamically cold outer disk extending from beyond a N , 0 ?> to 30 AU. Neptune’s orbit is migrated into the disk on an e-folding timescale 1 ≤ τ ≤ 100 Myr. A small fraction (∼10−3) of the disk planetesimals become implanted into the Kuiper belt in the simulations. By analyzing the orbital distribution of the implanted bodies in different cases we find that the inclination constraint implies that τ ≳ 10 ?> Myr and a N , 0 ≲ 25 ?> AU. The models with τ < 10 ?> Myr do not satisfy the inclination constraint, because there is not enough time for various dynamical processes to raise inclinations. The slow migration of Neptune is consistent with other Kuiper Belt constraints, and with recently developed models of planetary instability/migration. Neptune’s eccentricity and inclination are never large in these models ( e N < 0.1 ?> , i N < 2 ° ?> ), as required to avoid excessive orbital excitation in the >40 AU region, where the Cold Classicals presumably formed.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Geophysics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8ddc9ce36cd3d82c707f616361859358cffac3b6

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Citations in the corpus

The planet nine hypothesis (2019, methodology): “…in the Kuiper belt further revealed that Neptune’s migration must have had a stochastic component, and likely occurred during a transient period of dynamical instability experienced by the outer solar system (Tsiganis et al. 2005; Levison et al. 2008; see also Nesvorný 2015a for a recent study).”
The primordial nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (2015, background): “For this scenario Nesvorný (2015) obtained PEKB = 0.32%, similar to that of Levison et al. (2008, 2011).”
The timeline of the lunar bombardment: Revisited (2018, background): “…ver the years with the detailed analysis of the Solar System strucure ( Nesvorny et al., 2007; Nesvorny and Morbidelli, 2012; Brasser nd Morbidelli, 2013; Nesvorny et al., 2013; Nesvorny, 2015a; 015b ), the dynamical models remained agnostic as to whether the nstability occurred early or late.”
Origin and Evolution of Short-period Comets (2017, background): “…satellites (Nesvorný et al. 2007, 2014), Kuiper belt (Malhotra 1993, Gomes 2003, Hahn & Malhotra 2005; Levison et al. 2008; Dawson & Murray-Clay 2012; Nesvorný 2015a,b; NV16), scattered disk (BM13, Kaib & Sheppard 2016, Nesvorný et al. 2016), and Oort cloud (Brasser et al. 2006, 2007, 2008;…”