Resonant Trapping of Planetesimals by Planet Migration: Debris Disk Clumps and Vega’s Similarity to the Solar System

By M. C. Wyatt. 2003

180 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper describes a model that can explain the observed clumpy structures of debris disks. Clumps arise because after a planetary system forms, its planets migrate because of angular momentum exchange with the remaining planetesimals. Outward migration of the outermost planet traps planetesimals outside its orbit into its resonances, and resonant forces cause azimuthal structure in their distribution. The model is based on numerical simulations of planets of different masses, Mpl, migrating at different rates, ȧpl, through a dynamically cold (e < 0.01) planetesimal disk initially at a semimajor axis a. Trapping probabilities and the resulting azimuthal structures are presented for a planet's 2 : 1, 5 : 3, 3 : 2, and 4 : 3 resonances. Seven possible dynamical structures are identified from migrations defined by μ = Mpl/M* and θ = ȧpl (a/Ṁ*)1/2. Application of this model to the 850 μm image of Vega's disk shows that its two clumps of unequal brightness can be explained by the migration of a Neptune-mass planet from 40 to 65 AU over 56 Myr; tight constraints are set on possible ranges of these parameters. The clumps are caused by planetesimals in the 3 : 2 and 2 : 1 resonances; the asymmetry arises because of the overabundance of planetesimals in the 2 : 1(u) over the 2 : 1(l) resonance. The similarity of this migration to that proposed for our own Neptune hints that Vega's planetary system may be much more akin to the solar system than previously thought. Predictions are made that would substantiate this model, such as the orbital motion of the clumpy pattern, the location of the planet, and the presence of lower level clumps.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b76294e8a86819eb284553dfb79db97094baada3

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. L. Hillenbrand
2. K. Luhman
3. Eric Mamajek
4. S. Kenyon
5. M. C. Wyatt
6. B. Bromley
7. A. Kraus
8. J. Carpenter

Citations in the corpus

• Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks. II. Embedded Planets (2003, methodology): “Our derived lifetimes are longer than the observed lifetimes (see also Greaves & Wyatt 2003; Decin et al. 2003).”
• The Insignificance of P-R drag in detectable extrasolar planetesimal belts (2005, background): “…of icy grains (Jura et al. 1998) or by the outward migration of dust to the outer edge of a gas disk (Takeuchi & Artymowicz 2001), and clumps may arise from the destruction of planetesimals which were trapped in resonance with a planet when it migrated out from closer to the star (Wyatt 2003).”
• FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS: PROPERTIES OF DEBRIS DUST AROUND SOLAR-TYPE STARS (2008, background): “Liou & Zook (1999) demonstrated how debris dust can be trapped in resonances with orbiting planets to produce the asymmetric and clumpy structure observed in some debris disks (see also Wyatt 2003; Moro-Mart́ın & Malhotra 2003, 2005; Krivov et al. 2007).”
• PROBING FOR EXOPLANETS HIDING IN DUSTY DEBRIS DISKS: DISK IMAGING, CHARACTERIZATION, AND EXPLORATION WITH HST/STIS MULTI-ROLL CORONAGRAPHY (2014, background): “These are exactly the morphological features predicted to arise in starlight-scattering CS debris perturbed by co-orbiting planets (Wyatt et al. 1999; Augereau et al. 2001; Kuchner & Holman 2003; Wyatt 2003, 2005; Wolf et al. 2007; Ertel et al. 2012).”
• Circumstellar material in the Vega inner system revealed by CHARA/FLUOR (2006, background): “Although the presence of giant planets around Vega has not been confirmed yet, Wyatt (2003) has suggested that the outward migration of a Neptune-sized body from 40 to 65 AU could explain the observed clumpy structure in Vega’s outer disk.”
• Steady State Evolution of Debris Disks around A Stars (2007, background): “It is also unknown how many A stars possess disks too cold to detect in the far-IR (Wyatt, Dent & Greaves 2003; Najita & Williams 2005).”
• NEW DEBRIS DISKS AROUND YOUNG, LOW-MASS STARS DISCOVERED WITH THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE (2009, unknown): “…in Hillenbrand et al. (2008); Krivov (2007); Krivov et al. (2007, 2006); Strubbe & Chiang (2006); Minato et al. (2006); Najita & Williams (2005); Plavchan et al. (2005); Chen et al. (2005a); Wyatt (2005, 2003); Dominik & Decin (2003); Jura et al. (1995); Gustafson (1994); Backman & Paresce (1993).”
• Planet Hunters IX. KIC 8462852-where's the flux? (2015, background): “The clustering of dips at D1500 also points to these events being correlated which is hard to reconcile with this scenario, though the planetesimals in the belts could be shepherded by planets into confined azimuthal regions (e.g. Wyatt 2003; Nesvorný, Vokrouhlický & Morbidelli 2013).”
• Variations on Debris Disks: Icy Planet Formation at 30-150 AU for 1-3 M☉ Main-Sequence Stars (2008, background): “The predicted rate of decline, t n with n 0:6Y0:8, is close to the observed rate (n 0:5Y1; Greaves & Wyatt 2003; Rieke et al. 2005; Rhee et al. 2007a).”