Not Just Gas: How Solid-Driven Torques Shaped the Migration of the Galilean Moons

Abstract

Surviving rapid inward orbital migration is a crucial aspect of formation models for the Jupiter's Galilean moons. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the orbital migration of the Galilean moons by incorporating self-consistent solid dynamics in circumjovian disk models. We perform two-fluid simulations using the FARGO3D code on a 2D polar grid. The simulations model a satellite with the mass of a proto-moon, Europa, or Ganymede interacting with a circumjovian disk. The dust component, coupled to the gas via a drag force, is characterized by the dust-to-gas mass ratio ($\epsilon$) and the Stokes number ($T_s$). The effect of solids fundamentally alter the satellites' evolution. We identify a vast parameter space where migration is slowed, halted, robustly reversed -leading to outward migration-, or significantly accelerated inward. The migration rate is dependent on satellite mass, providing a natural source of differential migration. Solid dynamics provides a robust and self-consistent mechanism that fundamentally alters the migration of the Galilean moons, potentially addressing the long-standing migration catastrophe. This mechanism critically affects the survival of satellites and could offer a viable physical process to explain the establishment of resonances through differential migration. These findings establish that solid torques are a critical, non-negligible factor in shaping the final architecture of satellite systems.

arXiv comment5 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter to the editor

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