English

Shaping of the inner Oort cloud by Planet Nine

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2017-10-25 v2 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

We present a numerical simulation of the dynamical interaction between the proposed Planet Nine and a debris disk around the Sun for 4Gyr4{\rm Gyr}, accounting for the secular perturbation of the four giant planets in two scenarios: (a) an initially thin circular disk around the Sun (b) inclined and eccentric disk. We show, in both scenarios, that Planet Nine governs the dynamics in between 10005000AU1000{\rm -5000{\rm AU}} and forms spherical structure in the inner part (1000AU\sim1000{\rm AU}) and inclined disk. This structure is the outcome of mean motion resonances and secular interaction with Planet Nine. We compare the morphology of this structure with the outcome from a fly-by encounter of a star with the debris disk and show distinct differences between the two cases. We predict that this structure serves as a source of comets and calculate the resulting comet production rate to be detectable.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.08614,
  title  = {Shaping of the inner Oort cloud by Planet Nine},
  author = {Erez Michaely and Abraham Loeb},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.08614},
  year   = {2017}
}