The Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon System
dc.contributor.author | Smullen, Rachel A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Kratter, Kaitlin M. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-06-29T16:23:25Z | |
dc.date.available | 2017-06-29T16:23:25Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-01-04 | |
dc.identifier.citation | The Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon System 2017:stw3386 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0035-8711 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1365-2966 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1093/mnras/stw3386 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624509 | |
dc.description.abstract | The Pluto-Charon system has come into sharper focus following the flyby of New Horizons. We use N-body simulations to probe the unique dynamical history of this binary dwarf planet system. We follow the evolution of the debris disc that might have formed during the Charon-forming giant impact. First, we note that in situ formation of the four circumbinary moons is extremely difficult if Charon undergoes eccentric tidal evolution. We track collisions of disc debris with Charon, estimating that hundreds to hundreds of thousands of visible craters might arise from 0.3-5 km radius bodies. New Horizons data suggesting a dearth of these small craters may place constraints on the disc properties. While tidal heating will erase some of the cratering history, both tidal and radiogenic heating may also make it possible to differentiate disc debris craters from Kuiper belt object craters. We also track the debris ejected from the Pluto-Charon system into the Solar system; while most of this debris is ultimately lost from the Solar system, a few tens of 10-30 km radius bodies could survive as a Pluto-Charon collisional family. Most are plutinos in the 3: 2 resonance with Neptune, while a small number populate nearby resonances. We show that migration of the giant planets early in the Solar system's history would not destroy this collisional family. Finally, we suggest that identification of such a family would likely need to be based on composition as they show minimal clustering in relevant orbital parameters. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | National Science Foundation [AST-1410174, DGE-1143953, 1228509] | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | en |
dc.relation.url | https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stw3386 | en |
dc.rights | © 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. | en |
dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
dc.subject | Kuiper belt objects: individual: Pluto | en |
dc.subject | planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability | en |
dc.subject | planet-disc interactions | en |
dc.title | The Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon System | en |
dc.type | Article | en |
dc.contributor.department | Univ Arizona, Steward Observ | en |
dc.identifier.journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | en |
dc.description.collectioninformation | This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu. | en |
dc.eprint.version | Final published version | en |
refterms.dateFOA | 2018-07-02T20:52:02Z | |
html.description.abstract | The Pluto-Charon system has come into sharper focus following the flyby of New Horizons. We use N-body simulations to probe the unique dynamical history of this binary dwarf planet system. We follow the evolution of the debris disc that might have formed during the Charon-forming giant impact. First, we note that in situ formation of the four circumbinary moons is extremely difficult if Charon undergoes eccentric tidal evolution. We track collisions of disc debris with Charon, estimating that hundreds to hundreds of thousands of visible craters might arise from 0.3-5 km radius bodies. New Horizons data suggesting a dearth of these small craters may place constraints on the disc properties. While tidal heating will erase some of the cratering history, both tidal and radiogenic heating may also make it possible to differentiate disc debris craters from Kuiper belt object craters. We also track the debris ejected from the Pluto-Charon system into the Solar system; while most of this debris is ultimately lost from the Solar system, a few tens of 10-30 km radius bodies could survive as a Pluto-Charon collisional family. Most are plutinos in the 3: 2 resonance with Neptune, while a small number populate nearby resonances. We show that migration of the giant planets early in the Solar system's history would not destroy this collisional family. Finally, we suggest that identification of such a family would likely need to be based on composition as they show minimal clustering in relevant orbital parameters. |