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Is there an exoplanet in the Solar system?

Mustill, A.~J. LU orcid ; Raymond, S.~N. and Davies, M.~B. LU (2016) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 460. p.109-113
Abstract
We investigate the prospects for the capture of the proposed Planet 9 from other stars in the Sun's birth cluster. Any capture scenario must satisfy three conditions: the encounter must be more distant than ∼150 au to avoid perturbing the Kuiper belt; the other star must have a wide-orbit planet (a ≳ 100 au); the planet must be captured on to an appropriate orbit to sculpt the orbital distribution of wide-orbit Solar system bodies. Here we use N-body simulations to show that these criteria may be simultaneously satisfied. In a few per cent of slow close encounters in a cluster, bodies are captured on to heliocentric, Planet 9-like orbits. During the ∼100 Myr cluster phase, many stars are likely to host planets on highly eccentric orbits... (More)
We investigate the prospects for the capture of the proposed Planet 9 from other stars in the Sun's birth cluster. Any capture scenario must satisfy three conditions: the encounter must be more distant than ∼150 au to avoid perturbing the Kuiper belt; the other star must have a wide-orbit planet (a ≳ 100 au); the planet must be captured on to an appropriate orbit to sculpt the orbital distribution of wide-orbit Solar system bodies. Here we use N-body simulations to show that these criteria may be simultaneously satisfied. In a few per cent of slow close encounters in a cluster, bodies are captured on to heliocentric, Planet 9-like orbits. During the ∼100 Myr cluster phase, many stars are likely to host planets on highly eccentric orbits with apastron distances beyond 100 au if Neptune-sized planets are common and susceptible to planet–planet scattering. While the existence of Planet 9 remains unproven, we consider capture from one of the Sun's young brethren a plausible route to explain such an object's orbit. Capture appears to predict a large population of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) whose orbits are aligned with the captured planet, and we propose that different formation mechanisms will be distinguishable based on their imprint on the distribution of TNOs. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Kuiper belt: general, planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability, planets and satellites: individual: Planet 9, planetary systems, open clusters and associations: general
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
volume
460
pages
109 - 113
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84978422133
  • wos:000379832000023
ISSN
1745-3933
DOI
10.1093/mnrasl/slw075
project
IMPACT: Comets, asteroids and the habitability of planets
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d10471e1-804a-4679-9f28-9324222002a8
alternative location
https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.07247
date added to LUP
2016-08-16 16:06:52
date last changed
2022-12-14 01:32:29
@article{d10471e1-804a-4679-9f28-9324222002a8,
  abstract     = {{We investigate the prospects for the capture of the proposed Planet 9 from other stars in the Sun's birth cluster. Any capture scenario must satisfy three conditions: the encounter must be more distant than ∼150 au to avoid perturbing the Kuiper belt; the other star must have a wide-orbit planet (a ≳ 100 au); the planet must be captured on to an appropriate orbit to sculpt the orbital distribution of wide-orbit Solar system bodies. Here we use N-body simulations to show that these criteria may be simultaneously satisfied. In a few per cent of slow close encounters in a cluster, bodies are captured on to heliocentric, Planet 9-like orbits. During the ∼100 Myr cluster phase, many stars are likely to host planets on highly eccentric orbits with apastron distances beyond 100 au if Neptune-sized planets are common and susceptible to planet–planet scattering. While the existence of Planet 9 remains unproven, we consider capture from one of the Sun's young brethren a plausible route to explain such an object's orbit. Capture appears to predict a large population of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) whose orbits are aligned with the captured planet, and we propose that different formation mechanisms will be distinguishable based on their imprint on the distribution of TNOs.}},
  author       = {{Mustill, A.~J. and Raymond, S.~N. and Davies, M.~B.}},
  issn         = {{1745-3933}},
  keywords     = {{Kuiper belt: general; planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability; planets and satellites: individual: Planet 9; planetary systems; open clusters and associations: general}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{109--113}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters}},
  title        = {{Is there an exoplanet in the Solar system?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slw075}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnrasl/slw075}},
  volume       = {{460}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}