Impact of planet–planet scattering on the formation and survival of debris disks

F. Marzari

(Submitted on 30 Jul 2014)

Planet–planet scattering is a major dynamical mechanism able to significantly alter the architecture of a planetary system. In addition to that, it may also affect the formation and retention of a debris disk by the system. A violent chaotic evolution of the planets can easily clear leftover planetesimal belts preventing the ignition of a substantial collisional cascade that can give origin to a debris disk.

On the other end, a mild evolution with limited steps in eccentricity and semimajor axis can trigger the formation of a debris disk by stirring an initially quiet planetesimal belt. The variety of possible effects that planet–planet scattering can have on the formation of debris disks is analysed and the statistical probability of the different outcomes is evaluated. This leads to the prediction that systems which underwent an episode of chaotic evolution might have a lower probability of harboring a debris disk.

Comments:

Accepted for publication on MNRAS

Subjects:

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as:

arXiv:1407.8018 [astro-ph.EP]

(or arXiv:1407.8018v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history

From: Francesco Marzari Dr. 

[v1] Wed, 30 Jul 2014 12:21:05 GMT (283kb)