Related papers: A pre-Caloris synchronous rotation for Mercury
All of the known circumbinary planets are large (> 3 Earth radii). Whilst observational biases may account for this dearth of small planets, in this paper we propose a theoretical explanation. Most of the known planets are near the…
Spherical meteoroids orbiting the Sun experience orbital decay due to the Poynting-Robertson effect and can become trapped in commensurability resonances with a planet. Detail conditions for trapping in the planar circular restricted…
We study the chaotic orbital evolution of planetary systems, focusing on secular (i.e., orbit-averaged) interactions, because these often dominate on long timescales. We first focus on the evolution of a test particle that is forced by…
The origin of the highly eccentric, inclined, and resonance-locked orbit of Pluto has long been a puzzle. A possible explanation has been proposed recently [Malhotra, R., {\it Nature} 365:819-21 (1993)] which suggests that these…
It is usually taken for granted that mutual synchronisation of a tidal two-body system is attained through tidal recession, assuming the reduced Hill sphere is not reached. However, synchronisation can be achieved also via tidal approach,…
Potentially habitable planets can orbit close enough to their host star that the differential gravity across their diameters can fix the rotation rate at a specific frequency, a process called tidal locking. Tidally locked planets on…
The orbit of Mercury has large values of eccentricity and inclination that cannot be easily explained if this planet formed on a circular and coplanar orbit. Here, we study the evolution of Mercury's orbit during the instability related to…
Following the general numerical analysis of Melita and Woolfson (1996), I showed in a recent paper that a restricted, planar, circular planetary system consisting of Sun, Jupiter and Saturn would be captured in a near (2:1) resonance when…
Spin-orbit coupling is widespread in binary asteroid systems and it has been widely studied for the case of ellipsoidal secondary. Due to angular momentum exchange, dynamical coupling is stronger when the orbital and rotational angular…
Some quadruple star systems in the hierarchical 2+2 configuration exhibit orbit-orbit resonances between the two compact binaries. We show that the most important resonances occur at period ratios of 1:1, 3:2 and 2:1. We describe the…
Most major planetary bodies in the solar system rotate in the same direction as their orbital motion: their spin is prograde. Theoretical studies to explain the direction as well as the magnitude of the spin vector have had mixed success.…
We study the motion of a charged quantum particle, constrained on the surface of a cylinder, in the presence of a radial magnetic field. When the spin of the particle is neglected, the system essentially reduces to an infinite family of…
We analyze the possible relationship between the current orbital elements fits of known exoplanets in the 2/1 mean-motion resonance and the expected orbital configuration due to migration. It is found that, as long as the orbital decay was…
The planetary dynamics of $4/3$, $3/2$, $5/2$, $3/1$ and $4/1$ mean motion resonances is studied by using the model of the general three body problem in a rotating frame and by determining families of periodic orbits for each resonance.…
It is believed that the radio pulsars rotating at spin periods of about 30 millisecond or even lower got such high spins through the transfer of angular momentum by accreting matter from their binary companions (or past companions) in the…
It often seems as though papers bearing titles in the form of a question end with ambiguous answers. Here the situation is different: the outer Kuiper belt does have a definite future, although one of uncertain duration. Simulations provide…
We present families of symmetric and asymmetric periodic orbits at the 1/1 resonance, for a planetary system consisting of a star and two small bodies, in comparison to the star, moving in the same plane under their mutual gravitational…
A migrating planet can capture planetesimals into mean motion resonances. However, resonant trapping can be prevented when the drift or migration rate is sufficiently high. Using a simple Hamiltonian system for first and second order…
Mercury's eccentricity is chaotic and can increase so much that collisions with Venus or the Sun become possible (Laskar, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2008, Batygin & Laughlin, 2008, Laskar & Gastineau, 2009). This chaotic behavior results from an…
We provide a fast method for computing constraints on impactor pre-impact orbits, applying this to the late giant impacts in the Solar System. These constraints can be used to make quick, broad comparisons of different collision scenarios,…