Neptune's resonances in the Scattered Disk

Abstract

The Scattered Disk Objects (SDOs) are thought to be a small fraction of the ancient population of leftover planetesimals in the outer solar system that were gravitationally scattered by the giant planets and have managed to survive primarily by capture and sticking in Neptune's exterior mean motion resonances (MMRs). In order to advance understanding of the role of MMRs in the dynamics of the SDOs, we investigate the phase space structure of a large number of Neptune's MMRs in the semi-major axis range 33--140~au by use of Poincaré sections of the circular planar restricted three body model for the full range of particle eccentricity pertinent to SDOs. We find that, for eccentricities corresponding to perihelion distances near Neptune's orbit, distant MMRs have stable regions with widths that are surprisingly large and of similar size to those of the closer-in MMRs. We identify a phase-shifted second resonance zone that exists in the phase space at planet-crossing eccentricities but not at lower eccentricities; this second resonance zone plays an important role in the dynamics of SDOs in lengthening their dynamical lifetimes. Our non-perturbative measurements of the sizes of the stable resonance zones confirm previous results and provide an additional explanation for the prominence of the $N$:1 sequence of MMRs over the $N$:2, $N$:3 sequences and other MMRs in the population statistics of SDOs; our results also provide a tool to more easily identify resonant objects.

20 pages, 15 figures, 1 table. Some re-organization and minor revisions; to be published in CMDA

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Cited by in corpus (24)

• Three dimensional structure of mean motion resonances beyond Neptune
• Long-term orbital dynamics of trans-Neptunian objects
• Dynamical Classification of Trans-Neptunian Objects Detected by the Dark Energy Survey
• Resonant Kuiper Belt Objects -- a Review
• A Rogue Planet Helps Populate the Distant Kuiper Belt
• The Stability Boundary of the Distant Scattered Disk
• On the Divergence of First Order Resonance Widths at Low Eccentricities
• Stability of Neptune's distant resonances in the presence of Planet Nine
• Orbital dynamics landscape near the most distant known trans-Neptunian objects
• A von Mises-Fisher Distribution for the Orbital Poles of the Plutinos
• Multi-harmonic Hamiltonian models with applications to first-order resonances
• Asymmetric Capture into Neptunian 1:2 Resonance
• Peculiar orbits and asymmetries in extreme trans-Neptunian space
• Cislunar Mean-Motion Resonances: Definitions, Widths, and Comparisons with Resonant Satellites
• Dynamical structures of retrograde resonances: analytical and numerical studies
• Non-perturbative investigation of low eccentricity exterior mean motion resonances
• Dynamics of trans-Neptunian objects near the 3/1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune
• The Perturbation Theory Approach to Stability in the Scattered Disk
• Secular Structure of 1:2 and 1:3 Resonances with Neptune
• A study of the high-inclination population in the Kuiper belt -- IV. High-order mean motion resonances in the classical region
• Libration of Pluto's argument of perihelion and the role of the major planets
• New results on orbital resonances
• Advanced Techniques in Stability Analysis of Trans-Neptunian Objects
• Numerical estimation of the capture ability of Neptunian mean motion resonances