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The fates of Solar system analogues with one additional distant planet
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Veras, Dimitri (2016) The fates of Solar system analogues with one additional distant planet. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 463 (3). pp. 2958-2971. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw2170 ISSN 0035-8711.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2170
Abstract
The potential existence of a distant planet (“Planet Nine”) in the Solar system has prompted a re-think about the evolution of planetary systems. As the Sun transitions from a main sequence star into a white dwarf, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are currently assumed to survive in expanded but otherwise unchanged orbits. However, a sufficiently-distant and sufficiently-massive extra planet would alter this quiescent end scenario through the combined effects of Solar giant branch mass loss and Galactic tides. Here, I estimate bounds for the mass and orbit of a distant extra planet that would incite future instability in systems with a Sun-like star and giant planets with masses and orbits equivalent to those of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. I find that this boundary is diffuse and strongly dependent on each of the distant planet's orbital parameters. Nevertheless, I claim that instability occurs more often than not when the planet is as massive as Jupiter and harbours a semimajor axis exceeding about 300 au, or has a mass of a super-Earth and a semimajor axis exceeding about 3000 au. These results hold for orbital pericentres ranging from 100 to at least 400 au. This instability scenario might represent a common occurrence, as potentially evidenced by the ubiquity of metal pollution in white dwarf atmospheres throughout the Galaxy.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Celestial mechanics , Sun -- Evolution, White dwarf stars | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | ||||||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0035-8711 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 11 December 2016 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 463 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 2958-2971 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stw2170 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 27 September 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 27 September 2016 | ||||||||
Funder: | European Research Council (ERC) | ||||||||
Grant number: | Grant Agreement n. 320964 |
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