Related papers: Kuiper Belt evolution due to dynamical friction
The size distribution of small asteroids in the Main Belt is assumed to be determined by an equilibrium between the creation of new bodies out of the impact debris of larger asteroids and the destruction of small asteroids by collisions…
Neptune's dynamical history shaped the current orbits of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), leaving clues to the planet's orbital evolution. In the "classical" region, a population of dynamically "hot" high-inclination KBOs overlies a flat "cold"…
The acceleration of a spherical dust particle caused by an interstellar gas flow depends on the drag coefficient which is, for the given particle and flow of interstellar gas, a specific function of the relative speed of the dust particle…
The Centaurs are a population of small, planet-crossing objects in the outer solar system. They are dynamically short-lived and represent the transition population between the Kuiper belt and the Jupiter family short-period comets.…
The Edgeworth-Kuiper belt encodes the dynamical history of the outer solar system. Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) bear witness to coagulation physics, the evolution of planetary orbits, and external perturbations from the solar neighborhood. We…
The results of an extensive numerical study of the orbital dynamics of small bodies ranging from micron-sized dust grains to 1 km objects subject to gas drag and also the gravitational attraction of a non-uniform gaseous nebula are…
The inclination distribution of the Kuiper belt provides unique constraints on its origin and dynamical evolution, motivating vertically resolved observations of extrasolar planetesimal belts. We present ALMA observations of millimeter…
It is well known that a large fraction of galaxies have cuspy luminosity profiles in their central regions, at least within the observational resolution. In such cases, the often used, simplified, local approximation for the dynamical…
The Solar system beyond Neptune is believed to house a population of small primordial bodies left over from the planet formation process. The region up to heliocentric distance $\sim 50 AU$ (a.k.a. the Kuiper Belt) may be the source of the…
Compact objects evolving in an astrophysical environment experience a gravitational drag force known as dynamical friction. We present a multipole-frequency decomposition to evaluate the orbit-averaged energy and angular momentum…
For a rigid model satellite, Chandrasekhar's dynamical friction formula describes the orbital evolution quite accurately, when the Coulomb logarithm is chosen appropriately. However, it is not known if the orbital evolution of a real…
Various stellar objects experience a velocity kick at some point in their evolution. These include neutron stars and black holes at their birth or binary systems when one of the two components goes supernova. For most of these objects, the…
We present a preliminary analysis of the effect of dynamical friction on the orbits of part of the globular clusters in our Galaxy. Our study considers an anisotropic velocity dispersion field approximated using the results of studies in…
The spatial distribution of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in 2:1 exterior resonance with Neptune constrains that planet's migration history. Numerical simulations demonstrate that fast planetary migration generates a larger population of KBOs…
Almost all of the $>600$ known Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) have been discovered within 50 AU of the Sun. One possible explanation for the observed lack of KBOs beyond 50 AU is that the distant Kuiper belt is dynamically very cold, and thus…
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are remnants of a collisionally and dynamically evolved planetesimal disk in the outer solar system. This complex structure, known as the trans-Neptunian belt (or Edgeworth-Kuiper belt), can reveal important…
We use N-body simulations to explore the influence of orbital eccentricity on the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Specifically we compare the mass loss rate, velocity dispersion, relaxation time, and the mass function of star clusters…
The cold main classical Kuiper Belt consists of those non-resonant small solar system bodies with low orbital inclinations and orbital semi-major axes between 42.4 and 47.7 au. These objects likely formed \textit{in situ} and the population…
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…
Observations indicate that some of the largest Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) have retained volatiles in the gas phase, which implies the presence of an atmosphere that can affect their reflectance spectra and thermal balance. Volatile escape…