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The dynamical structure of the Kuiper belt can be used as a clue to the formation and evolution of the Solar System, planetary systems in general, and Neptune's early orbital history in particular. The problem is best addressed by forward…
This chapter reviews accretion models for Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), discussing in particular the compatibility of the observed properties of the KBO population with the streaming instability paradigm. Then it discusses how the dynamical…
Over the last two decades, a large population of close-in planets has been detected around a wide variety of host stars. Such exoplanets are likely to undergo planetary migration through magnetic and tidal interactions. We aim to follow the…
Advances in the discovery and characterization of asteroids over the past decade have revealed an unanticipated underlying structure that points to a dramatic early history of the inner Solar System. The asteroids in the main asteroid belt…
Kuiper Belt Objects, or more generally Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), are planetesimals found beyond the orbit of Neptune. Some TNOs evolve onto Neptune-crossing orbits and become Centaurs. Many Centaurs, in turn, reach Jupiter-crossing…
Motion of a point mass in gravitational fields of the Sun and of the galactic disk is studied. Fundamental features of the motion are found by investigating the time-averaged differential equations for orbital evolution. Several types of…
When extrasolar planets are observed to transit their parent stars, we are granted unprecedented access to their physical properties. It is only for transiting planets that we are permitted direct estimates of the planetary masses and…
The inner Solar System contains a cloud of small (1-100 micron) dust grains created when small bodies-asteroids, comets, and Kuiper belt objects-collide and outgas. This dust cloud, the zodiacal cloud probably has extrasolar analogs,…
Exoplanet surveys have confirmed one of humanity's (and all teenagers') worst fears: we are weird. If our Solar System were observed with present-day Earth technology -- to put our system and exoplanets on the same footing -- Jupiter is the…
The evolution of star clusters is studied using N-body simulations in which the evolution of single stars and binaries are taken self-consistently into account. Initial conditions are chosen to represent relatively young Galactic open…
One of the common approximations in long-term evolution studies of small bodies is the use of circular orbits averaging the actual eccentric ones, facilitating the coupling of processes with very different timescales, such as the orbital…
Thousands of confirmed and candidate exoplanets have been identified in recent years. Consequently, theoretical research on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems has seen a boost, and the processes of planet-planet…
The Gaia space telescope has transformed our understanding of random stellar encounters with the Solar System. This study examines how such perturbations influence the most eccentric comets in the Oort Cloud (OC), a thermalized reservoir of…
Comets are primitive objects that formed in the protoplanetary disk, and have been largely preserved over the history of the Solar System. However, they are not pristine, and surfaces of cometary nuclei do evolve. In order to understand the…
The asteroid belt is the leftover of the original planetesimal population in the inner solar system. However, currently the asteroids have orbits with all possible values of eccentricities and inclinations compatible with long-term…
With the number of confirmed rocky exoplanets increasing steadily, their characterisation and the search for exoplanetary biospheres is becoming an increasingly urgent issue in astrobiology. We aim to investigate the possibility of…
Recent observations suggest that many planetary-mass objects may be present in the outer solar system between the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. Gravitational perturbations may occasionally bring them into the inner solar system. Their…
Sublimative outgassing of comets produces torques that alter the rotation state of their nuclei. Recently, parameterized sublimative torque models have been developed to study rotation state changes of individual comet nuclei and…
The field of exoplanetary science is making rapid progress both in statistical studies of exoplanet properties as well as in individual characterization. As space missions provide an emerging picture of formation and evolution of…
The orbital architecture of the Solar System is thought to have been sculpted by a dynamical instability among the giant planets. During the instability a primordial outer disk of planetesimals was destabilized and ended up on…