Open AccessThe drag‐induced resonant capture for Kuiper Belt objects
Author(s) -
Jiang IngGuey,
Yeh LiChin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08504.x
Subject(s) - physics , neptune , resonance (particle physics) , drag , astrophysics , astronomy , planet , mechanics , particle physics
It has been an interesting question as to why one‐third of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) are trapped into the 3 : 2 resonance but, in contrast, only a few KBOs are claimed to be associated with the 2 : 1 resonance. In a model proposed by Zhou et al., the stochastic outward migration of the Neptune could reduce the number of particles in the 2 : 1 resonance, and thus the objects in the 3 : 2 resonance become more distinct. As a complementary study, we investigate the effect of protostellar discs on the resonance capture. Our results show that the gaseous drag of a protostellar disc can trap KBOs into the 3 : 2 resonance rather easily. In addition, no objects are captured into the 2 : 1 resonance in our simulation.