Giant Planets Can Act As Stabilizing Agents on Debris Disks

Abstract

We have explored the evolution of a cold debris disk under the gravitational influence of dwarf planet sized objects (DPs), both in the presence and absence of an interior giant planet. Through detailed long-term numerical simulations, we demonstrate that, when the giant planet is not present, DPs can stir the eccentricities and inclinations of disk particles, in linear proportion to the total mass of the DPs; on the other hand, when the giant planet is included in the simulations, the stirring is approximately proportional to the mass squared. This creates two regimes: below a disk mass threshold (defined by the total mass of DPs), the giant planet acts as a stabilizing agent of the orbits of cometary nucleii, diminishing the effect of the scatterers; above the threshold, the giant contributes to the dispersion of the particles.

arXiv comment10 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in the AJ

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Jupiter Family Comets
• A Mixed Stirring Mechanism for Debris Discs with Giant and Dwarf Planetary Perturbations
• The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Low Inclination Comets by the Replenishment of Mean Motion Resonances in Debris Disks
• Testing the Impact of Planet-stirring, Self-stirring, and Mixed-stirring on Debris Disc Architecture: A Case Study of HD 16743
• Long-term Dynamical Stability in the Outer Solar System I: The Regular and Chaotic Evolution of the 34 Largest Trans-Neptunian Objects