Shepherding in a Self-Gravitating Disk of Trans-Neptunian Objects
arXiv:1804.06859 · doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aaf0fc
Abstract
A relatively massive and moderately eccentric disk of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) can effectively counteract apse precession induced by the outer planets, and in the process shepherd highly eccentric members of its population into nearly-stationary configurations which are anti-aligned with the disk itself. We were sufficiently intrigued by this remarkable feature to embark on an extensive exploration of the full spatial dynamics sustained by the combined action of giant planets and a massive trans-Neptunian debris disk. In the process, we identified ranges of disk mass, eccentricity and precession rate which allow apse-clustered populations that faithfully reproduce key orbital properties of the much discussed TNO population. The shepherding disk hypothesis is to be sure complementary to any potential ninth member of the Solar System pantheon, and could obviate the need for it altogether. We discuss its essential ingredients in the context of Solar System formation and evolution, and argue for their naturalness in view of the growing body of observational and theoretical knowledge about self-gravitating disks around massive bodies, extra-solar debris disks included.
arXiv commentAccepted for publication in AJ; 21 pages, 15 figures
References in corpus (40)
- Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System
- Neptune's Migration into a Stirred-Up Kuiper Belt: A Detailed Comparison of Simulations to Observations
- An Eccentric Disk Model for the Nucleus of M31
- Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks II. Embedded Planets
- Planetesimal formation by the streaming instability in a photoevaporating disk
- Non-linear fluid dynamics of eccentric discs
- Planetesimal and gas dynamics in binaries
- Simulations of eccentric disks in close binary systems
- Color difference makes a difference: four planet candidates around tau Ceti
- OSSOS VI. Striking Biases in the detection of large semimajor axis Trans-Neptunian Objects
- New Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects: Towards a Super-Earth in the Outer Solar System
- The formation of planets in circumbinary disks
- Eccentric-disk models for the nucleus of M31
- Constraints on the location of a possible 9th planet derived from the Cassini data
- Planet Formation in Circumbinary Configurations: Turbulence Inhibits Planetesimal Accretion
- Planet formation in binaries: dynamics of planetesimals perturbed by the eccentric protoplanetary disk and the secondary
- On the eccentricity of self-gravitating circumstellar disks in eccentric binary systems
- Planet formation in stellar binaries I: planetesimal dynamics in massive protoplanetary disks
- Solar Obliquity Induced by Planet Nine
- The curiously warped mean plane of the Kuiper belt
- Planet formation in small separation binaries: not so excited after all
- Secular stability and instability in stellar systems surrounding massive objects
- A new inclination instability reshapes Keplerian disks into cones: application to the outer Solar System
- Dynamical Evolution Induced by Planet Nine
- The Secular Evolution of the Primordial Kuiper Belt
- OSSOS: V. Diffusion in the orbit of a high-perihelion distant Solar System object
- Constraints on Planet Nine's Orbit and Sky Position within a Framework of Mean Motion Resonances
- Observational bias and the clustering of distant eccentric Kuiper belt objects
- Consequences of a Distant Massive Planet on the Large Semi-major Axis Trans-Neptunian Objects
- Orbital clustering of distant Kuiper Belt Objects by hypothetical Planet 9. Secular or resonant ?
- Producing Distant Planets by Mutual Scattering of Planetary Embryos
- A Simple Family of Models for Eccentric Keplerian Fluid Disks
- Observational Signatures of a Massive Distant Planet on the Scattering Disk
- Making Planet Nine: Pebble Accretion at 250--750 AU in a Gravitationally Unstable Ring
- Was Planet 9 captured in the Sun's natal star-forming region?
- On the Nuclear Rotation Curve of M31
- Long-lived lop-sided modes of annular disks orbiting a central mass
- Solar Obliquity Induced by Planet Nine: Simple Calculation
- Circularizing Planet Nine through dynamical friction with an extended, cold planetesimal belt
- Secular Instabilities of Keplerian Stellar Discs
Cited by in corpus (23)
- What if Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole?
- A New High Perihelion Inner Oort Cloud Object: 2015 TG387
- Formation of Gaps in Self-Gravitating Debris Disks by Secular Resonance in a Single-planet System I: A Simplified Model
- OSSOS XV: Probing the Distant Solar System with Observed Scattering TNOs
- Injection of Inner Oort Cloud Objects Into the Distant Kuiper Belt by Planet Nine
- On the Dust Signatures Induced by Eccentric Super-Earths in Protoplanetary Disks
- The case of HD 106906 debris disc: A binary's revenge
- Perspectives on the distribution of orbits of distant Trans-Neptunian Objects
- Potential softening and eccentricity dynamics in razor-thin, nearly-Keplerian discs
- The vertical structure of debris discs and the role of disc gravity: A primer using a simplified model
- Giant Planet Influence on the Collective Gravity of a Primordial Scattered Disk
- Apsidal Clustering following the Inclination Instability
- The Resonance Hopping Effect in the Neptune-Planet Nine System
- Millimeter Dust Emission and Planetary Dynamics in the HD 106906 System
- Dynamical evolution of a self-gravitating planetesimal disk in the distant trans-Neptunian region
- On the origin of extreme trans-Neptunian objects within Modified Newtonian Dynamics
- Laplace surface dynamics, revisited: satellites, exo-planets and debris with distant, eccentric companions
- Orbital Dynamics with the Gravitational Perturbation due to a Disk
- Suppression of the inclination instability in the trans-Neptunian Solar system
- Orbital features of distant trans-Neptunian objects induced by giant gaseous clumps
- Testing the Impact of Planet-stirring, Self-stirring, and Mixed-stirring on Debris Disc Architecture: A Case Study of HD 16743
- Features of the Dynamical Evolution of a Massive Disk of Trans-Neptunian Objects
- Limits on the Detection of Planet Nine in the Dark Energy Survey