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| Paper: |
Resonant Planets: From Stability to Violent Upheaval |
| Volume: |
398, Extreme Solar Systems |
| Page: |
315 |
| Authors: |
Thommes, E.W.; Bryden, G.; Wu, Y.; Rasio, F.A. |
| Abstract: |
We show that interaction with a gas disk may produce young planetary systems with closely-spaced orbits, stabilized by mean-motion resonances between neighbors. On longer timescales, after the gas is gone, interaction with a remnant planetesimal disk tends to pull these configurations apart, eventually inducing dynamical instability. We find that this can lead to a variety of outcomes; some cases resemble the Solar System, while others end up with high-eccentricity orbits reminiscent of the observed exoplanets. A similar mechanism has been previously suggested as the cause of the lunar Late Heavy Bombardment. Thus, it may be that a large-scale dynamical instability, with more or less cataclysmic results, is an evolutionary step common to many planetary systems, including our own. |
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