Fan, Siteng and Batygin, Konstantin (2017) Simulations of the Solar System's Early Dynamical Evolution with a Self-gravitating Planetesimal Disk. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 851 (2). Art. No. L37. ISSN 2041-8213. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20171219-102555072
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Abstract
Over the course of the last decade, the Nice model has dramatically changed our view of the solar system's formation and early evolution. Within the context of this model, a transient period of planet–planet scattering is triggered by gravitational interactions between the giant planets and a massive primordial planetesimal disk, leading to a successful reproduction of the solar system's present-day architecture. In typical realizations of the Nice model, self-gravity of the planetesimal disk is routinely neglected, as it poses a computational bottleneck to the calculations. Recent analyses have shown, however, that a self-gravitating disk can exhibit behavior that is dynamically distinct, and this disparity may have significant implications for the solar system's evolutionary path. In this work, we explore this discrepancy utilizing a large suite of Nice model simulations with and without a self-gravitating planetesimal disk, taking advantage of the inherently parallel nature of graphic processing units. Our simulations demonstrate that self-consistent modeling of particle interactions does not lead to significantly different final planetary orbits from those obtained within conventional simulations. Moreover, self-gravitating calculations show similar planetesimal evolution to non-self-gravitating numerical experiments after dynamical instability is triggered, suggesting that the orbital clustering observed in the distant Kuiper Belt is unlikely to have a self-gravitational origin.
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Additional Information: | © 2017 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2017 November 4; revised 2017 November 30; accepted 2017 December 2; published 2017 December 18. We thank Christopher Spalding, Michael E. Brown, and Ann-Marie Madigan for useful discussions. Additionally, we would like to thank the anonymous referee for providing a thorough and insightful report that has led to a considerable improvement of the manuscript, as well as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for their generous support. | ||||||||||||
Group: | Astronomy Department | ||||||||||||
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Subject Keywords: | planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability | ||||||||||||
Issue or Number: | 2 | ||||||||||||
Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20171219-102555072 | ||||||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20171219-102555072 | ||||||||||||
Official Citation: | Siteng Fan and Konstantin Batygin 2017 ApJL 851 L37 | ||||||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||||||
ID Code: | 83962 | ||||||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||||||
Deposited By: | Tony Diaz | ||||||||||||
Deposited On: | 19 Dec 2017 19:15 | ||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 20 Apr 2020 08:47 |
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