Related papers: Forming the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt in a light …
A model for gravitational collapse where the event horizon is a quantum critical phase transition is extended to provide an explanation for the origin of the observable universe, where the expanding universe that we observe today was…
A model that computes the secular evolution of a gravitating disk-planet system is developed. The disk is treated as a set of gravitating rings, with the rings'/planets' time-evolution governed by the classical Laplace-Lagrange solution for…
We propose that the large, radius of ~1000 AU, circumbinary rotating disks observed around some post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) binary stars are formed from slow AGB wind material that is pushed back to the center of the nebula by…
The trans-Neptunian region of the solar system exhibits an intricate dynamical structure, much of which can be explained by an instability-driven orbital history of the giant planets. However, the origins of a highly inclined, and in…
The size distribution of TNOs in the Kuiper Belt provides crucial insights into the formation and evolution of the outer Solar System. Recent observational surveys, including OSSOS++, have revealed that dynamically cold and hot TNO…
The modestly eccentric and non-coplanar orbits of the giant planets pose a challenge to solar system formation theories which generally indicate that the giant planets emerged from the protoplanetary disk in nearly perfectly circular and…
So-called 'dark comets' are small, morphologically inactive near-Earth objects (NEOs) that exhibit nongravitational accelerations inconsistent with radiative effects. These objects exhibit short rotational periods (minutes to hours), where…
If the cosmological dark matter is primarily in the form of an elementary particle which has cross section and mass for self-interaction having a ratio similar to that of ordinary nuclear matter, then seed black holes (formed in stellar…
The Asteroid Belt and the Kuiper Belt are relics from the formation of our solar system. Understanding the size and spin distribution of the two belts is crucial for a deeper understanding of the formation of our solar system and the…
The Trojan asteroids provide a unique perspective on the history of Solar System. As a large population of small bodies, they record important gravitational interactions and dynamical evolution of the Solar System. In the past decade,…
If dark matter is an axion-like-particle a significant fraction of the present day relic abundance could be concentrated in compact gravitationally bound miniclusters. We study the minicluster masses compatible with the dark matter relic…
The outer giant planets, Uranus and Neptune, pose a challenge to theories of planet formation. They exist in a region of the Solar System where long dynamical timescales and a low primordial density of material would have conspired to make…
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…
Approximately 10-20% of all Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) occupy mean-motion resonances with Neptune. This dynamical configuration likely resulted from resonance capture as Neptune migrated outward during the late stages of planet formation.…
In this letter, we call attention to a gap in binaries in the Kuiper belt in the mass range between $\approx$10$^{19}$-10$^{20}$ kg, with a corresponding dearth in binaries between 4th and 5th absolute magnitude $H$. The low-mass end of the…
Hot temperature minerals have been detected in a large number of comets and were also identified in the samples of Comet Wild 2 that were returned by the Stardust mission. Meanwhile, observations of the distribution of hot minerals in young…
With the discovery of Kuiper Belt binaries that have wide separations and roughly equal masses new theories were proposed to explain their formation. Two formation scenarios were suggested by Goldreich and collaborators: In the first,…
This chapter summarizes analytic theory and numerical calculations for the formation and collisional evolution of KBOs at 20--150 AU. We describe the main predictions of a baseline self-stirring model and show how dynamical perturbations…
Most planetary systems -- including our own -- are born within stellar clusters, where interactions with neighboring stars can help shape the system architecture. This paper develops an orbit-averaged formalism to characterize the cluster's…
Haumea, a rapidly rotating elongated dwarf planet (~ 1500 km in diameter), has two satellites and is associated with a "family" of several smaller Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) in similar orbits. All members of the Haumea system share a water…