Impact craters on Pluto and Charon indicate a deficit of small Kuiper belt objects

Singer, K. N.; McKinnon, William B.; Gladman, Brett; Greenstreet, Sarah; Bierhaus, E. B.; Stern, S. A.; Parker, A. H.; Robbins, S. J.; Schenk, P.; Grundy, W. M.; Bray, V. J.; Beyer, R. A.; Binzel, Richard P.; Weaver, Harold A.; Young, L. A.; Spencer, J. R.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Moore, Jeffrey M.; Zangari, A. M.; Olkin, C. B.; Lauer, Tod R.; Lisse, C. M.; Ennico, Kimberly; Geology, Geophysics; Ralph, New Horizons; Teams, Lorri

doi:10.1126/science.aap8628

Cited by 140 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…We found that the large objects have a significant effect on long-term time scales, leading to a modest enhancement of the injection rate of new comets into the inner solar system. The reservoir requirements implied by our injection rate remain in broad agreement with recent reservoir estimations done from observations of the trans-Neptunian regions, as well as with those estimated from the analysis of cratering records on Pluto and 2014 MU 69 (Greenstreet et al 2015(Greenstreet et al , 2019Singer et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Jupiter Family Comets

Muñoz-Gutiérrez

Peimbert

Pichardo

et al. 2019

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We explore the long-term evolution of a bias-free orbital representation of the cometary nuclei (with diameters above 2 km) of the Kuiper belt, using the so-called L7 synthetic model from CFEPS, which consists of three dynamical sub-populations: the Classical, the Resonant, and the Scattering. The dynamical evolution of belt particles is studied under the gravitational influence of the Sun and the four giant planets, as well as of the 34 largest known trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs with H V < 4).Here we indistinctly call Dwarf Planets (DPs) to the full sample of 34 large TNOs. Over a 1 Gyr timescale, we analyze the secular influence of the DPs over Kuiper belt disk particles and their contribution to the injection rate of new visible Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs). We find that DPs globally increase the number of JFCs by 12.6%, when compared with the comets produced by the giant planets alone. When considering each population separately, we find that the increment produced by DPs is 17%, 12%, and 3% for the Classical, Resonant, and Scattering populations, respectively. Given the rate of escapes from the Kuiper belt, we find upper limits to the number of objects in each population required to maintain the JFCs in steady state; the results are 55.9×10 6 , 78.5×10 6 , and 274.3×10 6 for the Scattering, Resonant, and Classical populations, respectively. Finally, we find that the Plutinos are the most important source of comets which were originally in a resonant configuration, where the presence of Pluto alone enhances by 10% the number of JFCs.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Jupiter Family Comets

Muñoz-Gutiérrez

Peimbert

Pichardo

et al. 2019

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“…population in collisional equilibrium (e.g., Dohnanyi 1969), while a steeper slope may indicate that the ISO population is fed partially by additional fragmentation events, such as tidal disruption (Bolin et al 2018;Raymond et al 2018a;Zhang & Lin 2020). In any case, the existence of subkilometer interstellar comets like 1I suggests that the size distribution of objects in extrasolar Kuiper Belts, the progenitors of extrasolar comets, is not truncated at 1-2 km, challenging the claim that the size distribution of objects in the solar system's Kuiper Belt is effectively truncated at 1-2 km in diameter (Singer et al 2019). The arrival of additional ISOs will provide further constraints on their physical properties and size distribution, enhancing our understanding of comets in extrasolar systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Characterization of the Nucleus, Morphology, and Activity of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov by Optical and Near-infrared GROWTH, Apache Point, IRTF, ZTF, and Keck Observations

Bolin

Lisse

Kasliwal

et al. 2020

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We present visible and near-infrared (NIR) photometric and spectroscopic observations of interstellar object (ISO) 2I/Borisov taken from 2019 September 10 to 2019 December 20 using the GROWTH, the Apache Point Observatory Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility 3.0 m combined with pre-and postdiscovery observations of 2I obtained by the Zwicky Transient Facility from 2019 March 17 to 2019 May 5. Comparison with imaging of distant solar system comets shows an object very similar to mildly active solar system comets with an outgassing rate of ∼10 27 mol s −1. The photometry, taken in filters spanning the visible and NIR range, shows a gradual brightening trend of ∼0.03 mag day −1 since 2019 September 10 UTC for a reddish object becoming neutral in the NIR. The light curve from recent and prediscovery data reveals a brightness trend suggesting the recent onset of significant H 2 O sublimation with the comet being active with super volatiles such as CO at heliocentric distances >6 au consistent with its extended morphology. Using the

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“…As a consequence of these scattering events, the inner super-Earth systems are destroyed and only a very small fraction of the systems formed in our simulations harbour inner super-Earths and outer gas giants. Schlecker et al (2020) studied the super-Earth -cold Jupiter relation as well, but used instead 300m planetesimals for the growth of their planetary embryos, not in agreement with the evidence in the solar system (Bottke et al 2005;Morbidelli et al 2009;Singer et al 2019;Stern et al 2019). However, they recover a similar result regarding the eccentricity of outer gas giants and surviving inner super-Earths.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The eccentricity distribution of giant planets and their relation to super-Earths in the pebble accretion scenario

Bitsch

Trifonov

Izidoro

2020

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Observations of the population of cold Jupiter planets (r >1 AU) show that nearly all of these planets orbit their host star on eccentric orbits. For planets up to a few Jupiter masses, eccentric orbits are thought to be the outcome of planet–planet scattering events taking place after gas dispersal. We simulated the growth of planets via pebble and gas accretion as well as the migration of multiple planetary embryos in their gas disc. We then followed the long-term dynamical evolution of our formed planetary system up to 100 Myr after gas disc dispersal. We investigated the importance of the initial number of protoplanetary embryos and different damping rates of eccentricity and inclination during the gas phase for the final configuration of our planetary systems. We constrained our model by comparing the final dynamical structure of our simulated planetary systems to that of observed exoplanet systems. Our results show that the initial number of planetary embryos has only a minor impact on the final orbital eccentricity distribution of the giant planets, as long as the damping of eccentricity and inclination is efficient. If the damping is inefficient (slow), systems with a larger initial number of embryos harbour larger average eccentricities. In addition, for slow damping rates, we observe that scattering events are already common during the gas disc phase and that the giant planets that formed in these simulations match the observed giant planet eccentricity distribution best. These simulations also show that massive giant planets (above Jupiter mass) on eccentric orbits are less likely to host inner super-Earths as they get lost during the scattering phase, while systems with less massive giant planets on nearly circular orbits should harbour systems of inner super-Earths. Finally, our simulations predict that giant planets are not single, on average, but they live in multi-planet systems.

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Impact craters on Pluto and Charon indicate a deficit of small Kuiper belt objects

Cited by 140 publications

References 90 publications

The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Jupiter Family Comets

The Contribution of Dwarf Planets to the Origin of Jupiter Family Comets

Characterization of the Nucleus, Morphology, and Activity of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov by Optical and Near-infrared GROWTH, Apache Point, IRTF, ZTF, and Keck Observations

The eccentricity distribution of giant planets and their relation to super-Earths in the pebble accretion scenario

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