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There is evidence that most chains of mean motion resonances of type k : k − 1 among exoplanets become unstable once the dissipative action from the gas is removed from the system, particularly for large N (the number of planets) and k (indicating how compact the chain is). We present a novel dynamical mechanism that can explain the origin of these instabilities and thus the dearth of resonant systems in the exoplanet sample. It relies on the emergence of secondary resonances between a fraction of the synodic frequency 2π(1/ P 1 − 1/ P 2) and the libration frequencies in the mean motion resonance. These secondary resonances excite the amplitudes of libration of the mean motion resonances, thus leading to an instability. We detail the emergence of these secondary resonances by carrying out an explicit perturbative scheme to second order in the planetary masses and isolating the harmonic terms that are associated with them. Focusing on the case of three planets in the 3:2–3:2 mean motion resonance as an example, a simple but general analytical model of one of these resonances is obtained, which describes the initial phase of the activation of one such secondary resonance. The dynamics of the excited system is also briefly described. Finally, a generalization of this dynamical mechanism is obtained for arbitrary N and k. This leads to an explanation of previous numerical experiments on the stability of resonant chains, showing why the critical planetary mass allowed for stability decreases with increasing N and k. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider constraints on the planetesimal population residing in the discs of AU Microscopii (AU Mic), β Pictoris (β Pic) and Fomalhaut taking into account their observed thicknesses and normal disc opacities. We estimate that bodies of radius 5, 180 and 70 km are responsible for initiating the collisional cascade accounting for the dust production for AU Mic, β Pic and Fomalhaut's discs, respectively, at break radii from the star where their surface brightness profiles change slope. Larger bodies, of radius 1000 km and with surface density of the order of 0.01 g cm−2, are required to explain the thickness of these discs assuming that they are heated by gravitational stirring. A comparison between the densities of the two sizes suggests the size distribution in the largest bodies is flatter than that observed in the Kuiper belt. AU Mic's disc requires the shallowest size distribution for bodies with radius greater than 10 km suggesting that the disc contains planetary embryos experiencing a stage of runaway growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in our understanding of the dynamical history of the Solar system have altered the inferred bombardment history of the Earth during accretion of the Late Veneer, after the Moon-forming impact. We investigate how the bombardment by planetesimals left-over from the terrestrial planet region after terrestrial planet formation, as well as asteroids and comets, affects the evolution of Earth's early atmosphere. We develop a new statistical code of stochastic bombardment for atmosphere evolution, combining prescriptions for atmosphere loss and volatile delivery derived from hydrodynamic simulations and theory with results from dynamical modelling of realistic populations of impactors. We find that for an initially Earth-like atmosphere, impacts cause moderate atmospheric erosion with stochastic delivery of large asteroids, giving substantial growth (× 10) in a few |${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| of cases. The exact change in atmosphere mass is inherently stochastic and dependent on the dynamics of the left-over planetesimals. We also consider the dependence on unknowns including the impactor volatile content, finding that the atmosphere is typically completely stripped by especially dry left-over planetesimals (⁠|$\lt 0.02 ~ {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| volatiles). Remarkably, for a wide range of initial atmosphere masses and compositions, the atmosphere converges towards similar final masses and compositions, i.e. initially low-mass atmospheres grow, whereas massive atmospheres deplete. While the final properties are sensitive to the assumed impactor properties, the resulting atmosphere mass is close to that of current Earth. The exception to this is that a large initial atmosphere cannot be eroded to the current mass unless the atmosphere was initially primordial in composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent observations of rocky super-Earths have revealed an apparent wider distribution of Fe/Mg ratios, or core to mantle ratios, than the planets in our Solar system. This study aims to understand how much of the chemical diversity in the super-Earth population can arise from giant impacts during planetary formation. Planet formation simulations have only recently begun to treat collisions more realistically in an attempt to replicate the planets in our Solar system. We investigate planet formation more generally by simulating the formation of rocky super-Earths with varying initial conditions using a version of symb a , a gravitational N -body code, that incorporates realistic collisions. We track the maximum plausible change in composition after each impact. The final planets span a range of Fe/Mg ratios similar to the Solar system planets, but do not completely match the distribution in super-Earth data. We only form a few planets with minor iron-depletion, suggesting other mechanisms are at work. The most iron-rich planets have a lower Fe/Mg ratio than Mercury, and are less enriched than planets such as Kepler-100b. This indicates that further work on our understanding of planet formation and further improvement of precision of mass and radius measurements are required to explain planets at the extremes of this Fe/Mg distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of multiplanet systems are observed to contain planets very close to mean motion resonances (MMRs), although there is no significant pile-up of precise resonance pairs. We present theoretical and numerical studies on the outcome of capture into first-order MMRs using a parametrized planet migration model that takes into account non-linear eccentricity damping due to planet–disc interaction. This parametrization is based on numerical hydrodynamical simulations and is more realistic than the simple linear parametrization widely used in previous analytic studies. We find that non-linear eccentricity damping can significantly influence the stability and outcome of resonance capture. In particular, the equilibrium eccentricity of the planet captured into MMRs becomes larger, and the captured MMR state tends to be more stable compared to the prediction based on the simple migration model. In addition, when the migration is sufficiently fast or/and the planet mass ratio is sufficiently small, we observe a novel phenomenon of eccentricity overshoot, where the planet's eccentricity becomes very large before settling down to the lower equilibrium value. This can lead to the ejection of the smaller planet if its eccentricity becomes too large during the overshoot. This may help explain the intra-system mass uniformity observed in compact multiplanet systems and the lack of a low-mass planet companion of hot Jupiters when compared to warm Jupiters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ejection velocity fields of asteroid families are largely unconstrained due to the fact that members disperse relatively quickly on Myr time-scales by secular resonances and the Yarkovsky effect. The spreading of fragments in a by the Yarkovsky effect is indistinguishable from the spreading caused by the initial ejection of fragments. By examining families <20 Myr old, we can use the V-shape identification technique to separate family shapes that are due to the initial ejection velocity field and those that are due to the Yarkovsky effect. Asteroid families that are <20 Myr old provide an opportunity to study the velocity field of family fragments before they become too dispersed. Only the Karin family's initial velocity field has been determined and scales inversely with diameter, D-1. We have applied the V-shape identification technique to constrain young families' initial ejection velocity fields by measuring the curvature of their fragments' V-shape correlation in semimajor axis, a, versus D-1 space. Curvature from a straight line implies a deviation from a scaling of D-1. We measure the V-shape curvature of 11 young asteroid families including the 1993 FY12, Aeolia, Brangane, Brasilia, Clarissa, Iannini, Karin, Konig, Koronis(2), Theobalda and Veritas asteroid families. We find that the majority of asteroid families have initial ejection velocity fields consistent with ~D-1 supporting laboratory impact experiments and computer simulations of disrupting asteroid parent bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproducing the large Earth/Mars mass ratio requires a strong mass depletion in solids within the protoplanetary disc between 1 and 3 au. The Grand Tack model invokes a specific migration history of the giant planets to remove most of the mass initially beyond 1 au and to dynamically excite the asteroid belt. However, one could also invoke a steep density gradient created by inward drift and pile-up of small particles induced by gas drag, as has been proposed to explain the formation of close-in super-Earths. Here we show that the asteroid belt's orbital excitation provides a crucial constraint against this scenario for the Solar system. We performed a series of simulations of terrestrial planet formation and asteroid belt evolution starting from discs of planetesimals and planetary embryos with various radial density gradients and including Jupiter and Saturn on nearly circular and coplanar orbits. Discs with shallow density gradients reproduce the dynamical excitation of the asteroid belt by gravitational self-stirring but form Mars analogues significantly more massive than the real planet. In contrast, a disc with a surface density gradient proportional to r-5.5 reproduces the Earth/Mars mass ratio but leaves the asteroid belt in a dynamical state that is far colder than the real belt. We conclude that no disc profile can simultaneously explain the structure of the terrestrial planets and asteroid belt. The asteroid belt must have been depleted and dynamically excited by a different mechanism such as, for instance, in the Grand Tack scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Asteroid 2008 TC3 was a near-Earth asteroid that impacted the Earth on 2008 October 7. Meteorites were produced by the break-up of 2008 TC3 in the high atmosphere and at present, about 600 meteorites - called Almahata Sitta - coming from 2008 TC3 have been recovered. A mineralogical study of Almahata Sitta fragments shows that the asteroid 2008 TC3 was made of meteorites of different types (ureilites, H, L and E chondrites). Understanding the origin of this body and how it was put together remain a challenge. Here we perform a detailed spectroscopical and dynamical investigation to show that the most likely source region of 2008 TC3 is in the inner main belt at low inclination ( i < 8°). We show that asteroids with spectroscopic classes that can be associated with the different meteorite types of Almahata Sitta are present in the region of the main belt that includes the Nysa-Polana family and objects of the background at low inclination. Searching for a possible scenario of formation for 2008 TC3, we show that there is little chance that 2008 TC3 was formed by low-velocity collisions between asteroids of different mineralogies, in the current asteroid belt. It seems more likely that the heterogeneous composition of 2008 TC3 was inherited from a time when the asteroid belt was in a different dynamical state, most likely in the very early Solar system. Because ureilites are fragments of a large, thermally metamorphosed asteroid, this suggests that the phases of collisional erosion (the break-up of the ureilite parent body) and collisional accretion (the formation of the parent body of 2008 TC3) overlapped for some time in the primordial asteroid belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nice model of Gomes et al. suggests that the migration of the giant planets caused a planetesimal clearing event, which led to the late heavy bombardment (LHB) at 880 Myr. Here, we investigate the infrared emission from the Kuiper belt during the history of the Solar system as described by the Nice model. We describe a method for easily converting the results of N-body planetesimal simulations into observational properties (assuming blackbody grains and a single size distribution) and further modify this method to improve its realism (using realistic grain properties and a three-phase size distribution). We compare our results with observed debris discs and evaluate the plausibility of detecting an LHB-like process in extrasolar systems. Recent surveys have shown that 4 per cent of stars exhibit 24 μm excess and 16 per cent exhibit 70 μm excess. We show that the Solar system would have been amongst the brightest of these systems before the LHB at both 24 and 70 μm. We find a significant increase in 24 μm emission during the LHB, which rapidly drops off and becomes undetectable within 30 Myr, whereas the 70 μm emission remains detectable until 360 Myr after the LHB. Comparison with the statistics of debris disc evolution shows that such depletion events must be rare occurring around less than 12 per cent of Sun-like stars and with this level of incidence we would expect approximately one of the 413 Sun-like field stars so far detected to have a 24 μm excess to be currently going through an LHB. We also find that collisional processes are important in the Solar system before the LHB and that parameters for weak Kuiper belt objects are inconsistent with the Nice model interpretation of the LHB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NASA's Kepler mission discovered ∼700 planets in multiplanet systems containing three or more transiting bodies, many of which are super-Earths and mini-Neptunes in compact configurations. Using N -body simulations, we examine the in situ , final stage assembly of multiplanet systems via the collisional accretion of protoplanets. Our initial conditions are constructed using a subset of the Kepler five-planet systems as templates. Two different prescriptions for treating planetary collisions are adopted. The simulations address numerous questions: Do the results depend on the accretion prescription?; do the resulting systems resemble the Kepler systems, and do they reproduce the observed distribution of planetary multiplicities when synthetically observed?; do collisions lead to significant modification of protoplanet compositions, or to stripping of gaseous envelopes?; do the eccentricity distributions agree with those inferred for the Kepler planets? We find that the accretion prescription is unimportant in determining the outcomes. The final planetary systems look broadly similar to the Kepler templates adopted, but the observed distributions of planetary multiplicities or eccentricities are not reproduced, because scattering does not excite the systems sufficiently. In addition, we find that ∼1 per cent of our final systems contain a co-orbital planet pair in horseshoe or tadpole orbits. Post-processing the collision outcomes suggests that they would not significantly change the ice fractions of initially ice-rich protoplanets, but significant stripping of gaseous envelopes appears likely. Hence, it may be difficult to reconcile the observation that many low-mass Kepler planets have H/He envelopes with an in situ formation scenario that involves giant impacts after dispersal of the gas disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Hot super-Earths' (or 'mini-Neptunes') between one and four times Earth's size with period shorter than 100 d orbit 30-50 per cent of Sun-like stars. Their orbital configuration - measured as the period ratio distribution of adjacent planets in multiplanet systems - is a strong constraint for formation models. Here, we use N-body simulations with synthetic forces from an underlying evolving gaseous disc to model the formation and long-term dynamical evolution of super-Earth systems. While the gas disc is present, planetary embryos grow and migrate inward to form a resonant chain anchored at the inner edge of the disc. These resonant chains are far more compact than the observed super-Earth systems. Once the gas dissipates, resonant chains may become dynamically unstable. They undergo a phase of giant impacts that spreads the systems out. Disc turbulence has no measurable effect on the outcome. Our simulations match observations if a small fraction of resonant chains remain stable, while most super-Earths undergo a late dynamical instability. Our statistical analysis restricts the contribution of stable systems to less than 25 per cent. Our results also suggest that the large fraction of observed single-planet systems does not necessarily imply any dichotomy in the architecture of planetary systems. Finally, we use the low abundance of resonances in Kepler data to argue that, in reality, the survival of resonant chains happens likely only in ~5 per cent of the cases. This leads to a mystery: in our simulations only 50-60 per cent of resonant chains became unstable, whereas at least 75 per cent (and probably 90-95 per cent) must be unstable to match observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]