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dc.contributor.authorSmullen, Rachel A.
dc.contributor.authorKratter, Kaitlin M.
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-29T16:23:25Z
dc.date.available2017-06-29T16:23:25Z
dc.date.issued2017-01-04
dc.identifier.citationThe Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon System 2017:stw3386 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyen
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.issn1365-2966
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/mnras/stw3386
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10150/624509
dc.description.abstractThe 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.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation [AST-1410174, DGE-1143953, 1228509]en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherOXFORD UNIV PRESSen
dc.relation.urlhttps://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stw3386en
dc.rights© 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.en
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.subjectKuiper belt objects: individual: Plutoen
dc.subjectplanets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stabilityen
dc.subjectplanet-disc interactionsen
dc.titleThe Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon Systemen
dc.typeArticleen
dc.contributor.departmentUniv Arizona, Steward Observen
dc.identifier.journalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyen
dc.description.collectioninformationThis 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.versionFinal published versionen
refterms.dateFOA2018-07-02T20:52:02Z
html.description.abstractThe 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.


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