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Kenyon, Scott
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Astronomy
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- Description:
- We consider a scenario where the small satellites of Pluto and Charon grew within a disk of debris from an impact between Charon and a trans-Neptunian Object (TNO). After Charon’s orbital motion boosts the debris into a disk-like structure, rapid orbital damping of meter-size or smaller objects is essential to prevent the subsequent re-accretion or dynamical ejection by the binary. From analytical estimates and simulations of disk evolution, we estimate an impactor radius of 30–100 km; smaller (larger) radii apply to an oblique (direct) impact. Although collisions between large TNOs and Charon are unlikely today, they were relatively common within the first 0.1–1 Gyr of the solar system. Compared to models where the small satellites agglomerate in the debris left over by the giant impact that produced the Pluto-Charon binary planet, satellite formation from a later impact on Charon avoids the destabilizing resonances that sweep past the satellites during the early orbital expansion of the binary.
- Subject:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Creator:
- Kenyon, Scott and Bromley, Ben
- Owner:
- BENJAMIN BROMLEY
- Language:
- English
- Date Uploaded:
- 07/07/2020
- Date Modified:
- 07/10/2020
- Date Created:
- 201911 - 202004
- Identifier:
- https://doi.org/10.7278/S50D4AKFQZFC
- Description:
- Using a suite of numerical calculations, we consider the long-term evolution of circumbinary debris from the Pluto--Charon giant impact. Initially, these solids have large eccentricity and pericenters near Charon's orbit. On time scales of 100--1000 yr, dynamical interactions with Pluto and Charon lead to the ejection of most solids from the system. As the dynamics moves particles away from the barycenter, collisional damping reduces the orbital eccentricity of many particles. These solids populate a circumbinary disk in the Pluto-Charon orbital plane; a large fraction of this material lies within a `satellite zone' that encompasses the orbits of Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Compared to the narrow rings generated from the debris of a collision between a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and Charon, disks produced after the giant impact are much more extended and may be a less promising option for producing small circumbinary satellites.
- Subject:
- Astronomy
- Creator:
- Bromley, Benjamin and Kenyon, Scott
- Owner:
- BENJAMIN BROMLEY
- Language:
- English
- Date Uploaded:
- 02/03/2021
- Date Modified:
- 12/09/2021
- Date Created:
- 20191115 to 20200220
- Resource Type:
- Dataset
- Identifier:
- https://doi.org/10.7278/S50DSSMBHHXN
- Description:
- The similar orbital distances and incidence rates of debris disks and the prominent rings observed in protoplanetary disks suggest a potential connection between these structures. We explore this connection with new calculations that follow the evolution of rings of pebbles and planetesimals as they grow into planets and generate dusty debris. Depending on the initial solid mass and planetesimal formation efficiency, the calculations predict diverse outcomes for the resulting planet masses and accompanying debris signature. When compared with debris disk incidence rates as a function of luminosity and time, the model results indicate that the known population of bright cold debris disks can be explained by rings of solids with the (high) initial masses inferred for protoplanetary disk rings and modest planetesimal formation efficiencies that are consistent with current theories of planetesimal formation. These results support the possibility that large protoplanetary disk rings evolve into the known cold debris disks. The inferred strong evolutionary connection between protoplanetary disks with large rings and mature stars with cold debris disks implies that the remaining majority population of low-mass stars with compact protoplanetary disks leave behind only modest masses of residual solids at large radii and evolve primarily into mature stars without detectable debris beyond 30 au. The approach outlined here illustrates how combining observations with detailed evolutionary models of solids strongly constrains the global evolution of disk solids and underlying physical parameters such as the efficiency of planetesimal formation and the possible existence of invisible reservoirs of solids in protoplanetary disks.
- Keyword:
- model, low-mass stars, debris disks, planetesimals, protoplanetary disks, ring of pebbles, and planet formation
- Subject:
- Astronomy
- Creator:
- Kenyon, Scott, Najita, Joan, and Bromley, Ben
- Owner:
- BENJAMIN BROMLEY
- Based Near Label Tesim:
- Goddard, Maryland, United States
- Language:
- English
- Date Uploaded:
- 10/01/2021
- Date Modified:
- 12/06/2023
- Date Created:
- 2020-06-01 to 2021-09-28
- License:
- CC BY NC - Allows others to use and share your data non-commercially and with attribution.
- Resource Type:
- Dataset