Parker, R.J., Lichtenberg, T. and Quanz, S.P. (2017) Was Planet 9 captured in the Sun’s natal star-forming region? Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 472. L75-L79. ISSN 1745-3925
Abstract
The presence of an unseen ‘Planet 9’ on the outskirts of the Solar system has been invoked to explain the unexpected clustering of the orbits of several Edgeworth–Kuiper Belt Objects. We use N-body simulations to investigate the probability that Planet 9 was a free-floating planet (FFLOP) that was captured by the Sun in its birth star formation environment. We find that only 1–6 per cent of FFLOPs are ensnared by stars, even with the most optimal initial conditions for capture in star-forming regions (one FFLOP per star, and highly correlated stellar velocities to facilitate capture). Depending on the initial conditions of the star-forming regions, only 5–10 of 10 000 planets are captured on to orbits that lie within the constraints for Planet 9. When we apply an additional environmental constraint for Solar system formation – namely the injection of short-lived radioisotopes into the Sun’s protoplanetary disc from supernovae – we find the probability for the capture of Planet 9 to be almost zero.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2017 the Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Keywords: | methods: numerical ; planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability ; stars: kinematics and dynamics ; open clusters and associations: general |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ROYAL SOCIETY DH150108 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Oct 2017 12:21 |
Last Modified: | 19 Oct 2017 12:21 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slx141 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnrasl/slx141 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:122603 |