Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-5mhkq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-20T14:15:14.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Scattering of Planetesimals from Young Planetary Disks: Application to the β Pictoris System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Hervé Beust
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de l’Observatoire de Grenoble, Université J. Fourier, B.P. 53, F-38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
Philippe Thébault
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, F-92195 Meudon Principal Cedex, France

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Transient redshifted events monitored in the spectrum of β Pictoris have been interpreted as resulting from the evaporation of numerous comet-like bodies in the vicinity of this star. The dynamical origin for this phenomenon is attributed to mean-motion resonances (4:1 and 3:1) with a Jovian-like planet. Numerical simulations of this phenomenon are able to correctly reproduce the dynamical characteristics of the star-grazers observed. The numerical study allows to estimate the density of the planetesimal disk from which the bodies are supposed to originate, i.e. ∼ a few 108 bodies per AU. A key issue with this model is the refilling of the resonances, as without refilling they should be cleared within a few 105 yr and the observed phenomenon should stop. Collisions among planetesimals are a plausible mechanism. Collisional simulations show that collisions are able to sustain the observed phenomenon over much more than 106 yr, provided the population of the disk is high enough. The mass density of this population is estimated to a few tens of Earth masses per AU, which is only marginally realistic. However, the mass estimate is very poorly constrained.

Type
II. Joint Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Pacific 2002

References

Artymowicz, P. 1997, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 25, 175 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beust, H., & Morbidelli, A. 1996, Icarus, 120, 358 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beust, H., Lagrange, A.-M., Plazy, F. & Mouillet, D. 1996, A&A, 310, 181 Google Scholar
Beust, H., Lagrange, A.-M., Crawford, I.A., Goudard, C, Spyromilio, J., & Vidal-Madjar, A. 1998, A&A, 338, 1015 Google Scholar
Beust, H., & Morbidelli, A. 2000, Icarus, 143, 170 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalas, P., & Jewitt, D. 1995, AJ, 110, 794 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lagrange, A.-M., Plazy, F., Beust, H., Mouillet, D., Ferlet, R., Spyromilio, J., Vidal-Madjar, A., Tobin, W., Hearnshaw, J.B., Clark, M., & Thomas, K.W. 1996, A&A, 310, 547 Google Scholar
Moons, M., & Morbidelli, A. 1995, Icarus, 114, 33 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morbidelli, A., & Moons, M. 1993, Icarus, 102, 316 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouillet, D., Larwood, J.D., Papaloizou, J.C.B., & Lagrange, A.-M. 1997, MN-RAS, 292, 896 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thébault, P. & Beust, H., 2001, A&A, to be submittedGoogle Scholar
Vidal-Madjar, A., Lagrange-Henri, A.-M., Feldman, P.D., Beust, H., Lissauer, J.J., Deleuil, M., Ferlet, R., Gry, C, Hobbs, L.M., McGrath, M.A., McPhate, J.B., & Moos, H.W. 1994, A&A, 290, 245 Google Scholar
Vidal-Madjar, A., Lecavelier des Etangs, A., & Ferlet, R. 1998, Planet. Space Sci., 46, 629 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weidenschilling, S.J. 1977, Ap&SS, 153, 158 Google Scholar