Orbital resonances in the solar nebula - implications for planetary accretion

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Icarus; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(85)90169-1· OSTI ID:6292239

Weidenschilling, S J; Davis, D R

The influence of gas drag and gravitational perturbations by a planetary embryo on the orbit of a planetesimal in the solar nebula was examined. Non-Keplerian rotation of the gas causes secular decay of the orbit. If the planetesimal's orbit is exterior to the perturber's, resonant perturbations oppose this drag and can cause it to be trapped in a stable orbit at a commensurability of order j/(j + 1), where j is an integer. Numerical and analytical demonstrations show that resonant trapping occurs for wide ranges of perturbing mass, planetesimal size, and j. Induced eccentricities are large, causing overlap of orbits for bodies in different resonances with j greater than 2. Collisions between planetesimals in different resonances, or between resonant and nonresonant bodies, result in their disruption. Fragments smaller than a critical size can pass through resonances under the influence of drag and be accreted by the embryo. This effect speeds accretion and tends to prevent dynamical isolation of planetary embryos, making gas-rich scenarios for planetary formation more plausible. 24 references.

• Research Organization: Science Applications, Inc., Tucson, AZ
• OSTI ID: 6292239
• Journal Information: Icarus; (United States), Journal Name: Icarus; (United States) Vol. 62; ISSN ICRSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DRAG
GRAVITATION
ITERATIVE METHODS
MASS
MOTION
NEBULAE
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
ORBITS
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLANET-SYSTEM ACCRETION
PLANETARY EVOLUTION
PROTOPLANETS
ROTATION
RUNGE-KUTTA METHOD
SOLAR NEBULA
SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLUTION