MIGRATION OF PLANETS EMBEDDED IN A CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E, Rm 201, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
Planetary migration poses a serious challenge to theories of planet formation. In gaseous and planetesimal disks, migration can remove planets as quickly as they form. To explore migration in a planetesimal disk, we combine analytic and numerical approaches. After deriving general analytic migration rates for isolated planets, we use N-body simulations to confirm these results for fast and slow migration modes. Migration rates scale as m{sup -1} (for massive planets) and (1 + (e{sub H}/3){sup 3}){sup -1}, where m is the mass of a planet and e{sub H} is the eccentricity of the background planetesimals in Hill units. When multiple planets stir the disk, our simulations yield the new result that large-scale migration ceases. Thus, growing planets do not migrate through planetesimal disks. To extend these results to migration in gaseous disks, we compare physical interactions and rates. Although migration through a gaseous disk is an important issue for the formation of gas giants, we conclude that migration has little impact on the formation of terrestrial planets.
- OSTI ID:
- 21576569
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 735, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/735/1/29; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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