Injection of Oort cloud comets: The fundamental role of stellar perturbations

DOI10.1007/S10569-008-9140-YzbMATH Open1154.70321arXiv0804.2560OpenAlexW3099087946WikidataQ59873107 ScholiaQ59873107MaRDI QIDQ1003181FDOQ1003181

Authors: Hans Rickman, Marc Fouchard, Christiane Froeschlé, Giovanni B. Valsecchi 

Publication date: 27 February 2009

Published in: Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We present Monte Carlo simulations of the dynamical evolution of the Oort cloud over the age of the Solar System, using an initial sample of one million test comets without any cloning. Our model includes perturbations due to the Galactic tide (radial and vertical) and passing stars. We present the first detailed analysis of the injection mechanism into observable orbits by comparing the complete model with separate models for tidal and stellar perturbations alone. We find that a fundamental role for injecting comets from the region outside the loss cone (perihelion distance q > 15 AU) into observable orbits (q < 5 AU) is played by stellar perturbations. These act in synergy with the tide such that the total injection rate is significantly larger than the sum of the two separate rates. This synergy is as important during comet showers as during quiescent periods and concerns comets with both small and large semi-major axes. We propose different dynamical mechanisms to explain the synergies in the inner and outer parts of the Oort Cloud. We find that the filling of the observable part of the loss cone under normal conditions in the present-day Solar System rises from <1 % for a < 20 000 AU to about 100 % for a >= 100 000 AU.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0804.2560

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zbMATH Keywords

Monte Carlo simulationGalactic tide perturbationsLong period cometsOort Cloud

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Monte Carlo methods (65C05) Galactic and stellar dynamics (85A05) Celestial mechanics (70F15)

Cites Work

• High-order symplectic integrators for perturbed Hamiltonian systems
• Long-term effects of the galactic tide on cometary dynamics
• Methods for the Study of the Dynamics of the Oort Cloud Comets II: Modelling the Galactic Tide
• Stellar perturbations on the scattered disk

Cited In (15)

• Radiation pressure — a stabilizing agent of dust clouds in comets?
• Long-term orbital dynamics of trans-Neptunian objects
• Long-period comets as a tracer of the Oort cloud structure
• Long-term effects of the galactic tide on cometary dynamics
• Are the cometary outbursts caused by impacts with interplanetary vagabonds probable?
• Symmetric periodic orbits in the Hamiltonian galactic-tidal models
• On the origin of the Kuiper belt
• Evidence for Lévy random walks in the evolution of comets from the Oort cloud
• Orbit propagation in Minkowskian geometry
• Methods for the Study of the Dynamics of the Oort Cloud Comets I: Modelling the Stellar Perturbations
• 2-Gyr simulation of the Oort-Cloud formation. I: introduction on a new model of the outer Oort-Cloud formation
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Methods for the Study of the Dynamics of the Oort Cloud Comets II: Modelling the Galactic Tide
• On the possibility of outbursts of comets under the influence of the electrostatic destruction of cometary grains.
• Oort cloud formation at various Galactic distances

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