The fate of planetesimal discs in young open clusters: implications for 1I/'Oumuamua, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and more

Abstract

We perform $N$-body simulations of the early phases of open cluster evolution including a large population of planetesimals, initially arranged in Kuiper-belt like discs around each star. Using a new, 4th-order and time-reversible $N$-body code on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), we evolve the whole system under the stellar gravity, i.e. treating planetesimals as test particles, and consider two types of initial cluster models, similar to IC348 and the Hyades, respectively. In both cases, planetesimals can be dynamically excited, transferred between stars or liberated to become free-floating (such as A/2017 U1 or 'Oumuamua) during the early cluster evolution. We find that planetesimals captured from another star are not necessarily dynamically distinct from those native to a star. After an encounter both native and captured planetesimals can exhibit aligned periastrons, qualitatively similar to that seen in the Solar system and commonly thought to be the signature of Planet 9. We discuss the implications of our results for both our Solar system and exoplanetary systems.

15 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• On the survival of resonant and non-resonant planetary systems in star clusters
• Oort cloud Ecology II: The chronology of the formation of the Oort cloud
• FROST: a momentum-conserving CUDA implementation of a hierarchical fourth-order forward symplectic integrator
• An interstellar origin for high-inclination Centaurs
• Capture of interstellar objects: a source of long-period comets
• Significant interstellar object production by close stellar flybys
• Periodic repeating fast radio bursts: interaction between a magnetized neutron star and its planet in an eccentric orbit
• Super stellar abundances of alkali metals suggest significant migration for Hot Jupiters
• Predicting Interstellar Object Chemodynamics with Gaia
• Capture of interstellar objects I: the capture cross-section
• Switching integrators reversibly in the astrophysical $N$-body problem
• Capture of interstellar objects II: by the Solar system
• Reversible time-step adaptation for the integration of few-body systems
• Influence of planets on debris disks in star clusters I: the 50 AU Jupiter
• A direct N-body integrator for modelling the chaotic, tidal dynamics of multi-body extrasolar systems: TIDYMESS
• The New Astronomical Frontier of Interstellar Objects
• Detecting Interstellar Objects Through Stellar Occultations
• Orbit injection of planet-crossing asteroids
• Oort Cloud Ecology. III. The Sun left the parent star cluster shortly after the giant planets formed
• Dynamical evolution of massless particles in star clusters with NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS: II. The long-term evolution of free-floating comets
• Implications for the formation of Oort cloud-like structures and interstellar comets in dense environments
• Close Encounters of the Interstellar Kind: Examining the Capture of Interstellar Objects in Near Earth Orbit