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Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Volume 59, 2021

Transneptunian Space

Abstract

We provide a nonspecialist overview of the current state of understanding of the structure and origin of our Solar System's transneptunian region (often called the Kuiper Belt), highlighting perspectives on planetesimal formation, planet migration, and the contextual relationship with protoplanetary disks. We review the dynamical features of the transneptunian populations and their associated differences in physical properties. We describe aspects of our knowledge that have advanced in the past two decades and then move on to current issues of research interest (which thus still have unclear resolution).

  • ▪   The current transneptunian population consists of both implanted and primordial objects.
  • ▪   The primordial (aka cold) population is a largely unaltered remnant of the population that formed in situ.
  • ▪   The reason for the primordial cold population's current outer edge is unexplained.
  • ▪   The large semimajor-axis population now dynamically detached from Neptune is critical for understanding the Solar System's history.
  • ▪   Observational constraints on the number and orbits of distant objects remain poor.

Keyword(s): circumstellar disks, Kuiper Belt, planetary system formation, protoplanetary disks, small Solar System bodies, transneptunian objects
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2021-09-08
2025-04-23
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Transneptunian Space
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 59, 203 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-astro-120920-010005
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-astro-120920-010005
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-astro-120920-010005
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Supplementary Data

  • Supplemental Video 1: Animated version of the middle and right panels of Figure 1. The left panels show the time evolution of the osculating ecliptic (black) and free (orange) inclination (top panel) and longitude of ascending node (bottom panel) for TNO 2001 QD298, which has a nearly constant barycentric semimajor axis of 42.6 au, over a 10 Myr numerical integration. The right panel shows the evolution in the same integration of the forced (blue) and free (orange; measured relative to the forced) inclination vectors, in the components (i cos Ω, i sin Ω). The dashed axes in the right panel denote the reference plane (the ecliptic) where the polar distance is iecl (the sum of the orange and blue vectors; shown as a black trace over time) and the osculating ecliptic node Ω (not labelled) is the polar angle measured from the positive x axis.

    The free and forced inclination vectors (and thus also the osculating ecliptic inclination) rotate clockwise over time in the right panel, causing a regression of Ω. The path of the forced inclination vector traces a (blue) circle around the Solar System's invariable pole (the total angular momentum vector); this is largely because Neptune's inclination varies over time as it interacts with the other giant planets, and Neptune's orbital plane influences the TNO's forced inclination. While the time evolution of the ecliptic inclination and node over time is complex, the free inclination remains relatively constant over time and the free node regresses smoothly.

    Supplemental Video 2: Animated version of Figure 2, which shows the orbital evolution of TNO 225088=Gonggong=2007 OR10 in Neptune's 10:3 mean-motion resonance over a 105 year simulation. Left panels: the time evolution of a, e, and the resonant angle φ. Right panel: Gonggong's position projected on a reference x-y plane that rotates around the Solar System's barycenter at the rate of Neptune's mean motion; Neptune thus remains nearly fixed along the x-axis (magenta point; the other giant planet paths are shown interior to Neptune).

    The first portion of the video shows Gonggong completing three orbits around the Sun (black trace), during which Neptune completes ten orbits. This path creates a three-fold symmetry in the rotating frame. We then speed up the time in the video to show how the locations of Gonggong's perihelia in the rotating frame librate back and forth over the full resonant cycle described by φ. In this portion of the video, each new three-orbit trace for Gonggong is shown in yellow, while the past traces are shown in black, building up a picture of the libration cycle. The Δφ ≈ 80° libration amplitude corresponds to an angular oscillation of the perihelion location in the rotating frame of Δφ/3 ≈ 27° (labeled in red in the bottom left panel and by the three red arcs in the right panel); the corresponding sinusoidal variations in a and e are apparent in the top left two panels. We note that the majority of TNO detections occur at distances ≲ 45 au due to the flux bias (see Section 2); for resonant TNOs, this results in detection preferentially at specific longitudes relative to Neptune.

    Supplemental Video 3: Animated accompaniment to the topic of Figure 8. This video presents another example of a rogue planet raising TNO perihelia for the simulation presented as a still image as Figure 1 in Gladman & Chan (2006). The animation shows the (a, q) evolution of a 2 M⊕ rogue planet (red square), which is scattered out and spends 150 Myr in the 200 < a < 500 au scattering disk (with q near Neptune). Black points track the evolution of an initial 20–50 au disk of cold test particles to their final value (black x's). The darker symbols show the positions in the currently shown time snapshot, while the lighter symbols trace the recent past evolution, (which fades out over time in the animation). The current giant planets are the persistent red squares in the lower left.

    When some of the test particles are scattered to semimajor axes within about a factor of two of the rogue's a, the secular (averaged) gravitational effect of the rogue causes their q to rise and decouple from Neptune as part of a oscillation in e. However, when the rogue is ejected, TNOs with q > 40 au 'freeze' at their current orbits because Neptune is now unable to significantly alter their orbits, leaving behind a detached population. Note the production of high-q orbits with a = 150–300 au.

    At the end of the animation, the known q > 40 au and a > 50 au TNOs (as of the end of 2020) are shown as open blue triangles for reference; note that there are strong detection biases favouring low-q and low-a objects that need to be accounted for in a rigorous comparison between these and the simulated population.

  • Article Type: Review Article

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