Dynamical Instabilities in High-Obliquity Systems

Abstract

High-inclination circumplanetary orbits that are gravitationally perturbed by the central star can undergo Kozai oscillations---large-amplitude, coupled variations in the orbital eccentricity and inclination. We first study how this effect is modified by incorporating perturbations from the planetary oblateness. Tremaine et al. (2009) found that, for planets with obliquities > 68.875 degrees, orbits in the equilibrium local Laplace plane are unstable to eccentricity perturbations over a finite radial range, and execute large-amplitude chaotic oscillations in eccentricity and inclination. In the hope of making that treatment more easily understandable, we analyze the problem using orbital elements, confirming this threshold obliquity. Furthermore, we find that orbits inclined to the Laplace plane will be unstable over a broader radial range, and that such orbits can go unstable for obliquities less than 68.875 degrees. Finally, we analyze the added effects of radiation pressure, which are important for dust grains and provide a natural mechanism for particle semimajor axes to sweep via Poynting-Robertson drag through any unstable range. We find that generally the effect persists; however, the unstable radial range is shifted and small retrograde particles can avoid the instability altogether. We argue that this is occurs because radiation pressure modifies the equilibrium Laplace plane.

39 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ

References in corpus (7)

• Secular Dynamics in Hierarchical Three-Body Systems
• The Eccentric Kozai Mechanism for a Test Particle
• Long-Term Cycling of Kozai-Lidov Cycles: Extreme Eccentricities and Inclinations Excited by a Distant Eccentric Perturber
• Satellite dynamics on the Laplace surface
• Finding the trigger to Iapetus' odd global albedo pattern: Dynamics of dust from Saturn's irregular satellites
• The Fate of Sub-Micron Circumplanetary Dust Grains I: Aligned Dipolar Magnetic Fields
• The Fate of Sub-micron Circumplanetary Dust Grains II: Multipolar Fields

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Tidal evolution of the Moon from a high-obliquity, high-angular-momentum Earth
• Planetary engulfment as a trigger for white dwarf pollution
• Survival of Planets Around Shrinking Stellar Binaries
• The Dynamics of the Multi-planet System Orbiting Kepler-56
• Red material on the large moons of Uranus: Dust from irregular satellites?
• Excitation of the Orbital Inclination of Iapetus during Planetary Encounters
• Chaotic quadruple secular evolution and the production of misaligned exomoons and Warm Jupiters in stellar multiples
• Chaotic dust dynamics and implications for the hemispherical color asymmetries of the Uranian satellites
• The case of HD 106906 debris disc: A binary's revenge
• Evidence for a Past Martian Ring from the Orbital Inclination of Deimos
• On the existence of regular and irregular outer moons orbiting the Pluto-Charon system
• Mutual Inclination of Ultra-Short-Period Planets with Time Varying Stellar J2-moment
• The Structure and Stability of Extended, Inclined Circumplanetary Disk or Ring Systems
• Radial profiles of the Phoebe ring, a vast debris disk around Saturn
• Future destabilisation of Titan as a result of Saturn's tilting
• Laplace surface dynamics, revisited: satellites, exo-planets and debris with distant, eccentric companions
• Early Dynamics of the Lunar Core