Kuiper belt: formation and evolution

2019/04/05 by Alessandro Morbidelli, David Nesvorný, David Nesvorny · 1 voice · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-816490-7.00002-3

Review chapter to be published in the book "The Transneptunian Solar System", Dina Prialnik, Maria Antonietta Barucci, Leslie Young Eds. Elsevier

arxiv created 2019/04/05 · arxiv published 2019/04/05 · openalex publication_date 2019/12/06 · crossref created 2019/12/06 · crossref deposited 2019/12/06 · crossref issued 2020/01/01 · crossref published 2020/01/01 · crossref published-print 2020/01/01 · arxiv updated 2020/01/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

This chapter reviews accretion models for Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), discussing in particular the compatibility of the observed properties of the KBO population with the streaming instability paradigm. Then it discusses how the dynamical structure of the KBO population, including the formation of its 5 sub-components (cold, hot, resonant, scattered and fossilized), can be quantitatively understood in the framewok of the giant planet instability. We also establish the connections between the KBO population and the Trojans of Jupiter and Neptune, the irregular satellites of all giant planets, the Oort cloud and the D-type main belt asteroids. Finally, we discuss the collisional evolution of the KBO population, arguing that the current size-frequency distribution below 100~km in size has been achieved as a collisional equilibrium in a few tens of My inside the original massive trans-Neptunain disk, possibly with the exception of the cold population sub-component.

Citations

• Formation and Collisional Evolution of Kuiper Belt Objects
• 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a Jupiter family comet with a high D/H ratio
• DESTRUCTION OF BINARY MINOR PLANETS DURING NEPTUNE SCATTERING
• The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects
• The Formation of Uranus and Neptune among Jupiter and Saturn
• The fossilized size distribution of the main asteroid belt
• Origin of the orbital architecture of the giant planets of the Solar System
• The Ratio of Retrograde to Prograde Orbits: A Test for Kuiper Belt Binary Formation Theories
• The formation of the Kuiper belt by the outward transport of bodies during Neptune's migration
• Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System

Cited by

• Born extra-eccentric: A broad spectrum of primordial configurations of the gas giants that match their present-day orbits
• Investigating gravitational collapse of a pebble cloud to form transneptunian binaries
• Modification of icy planetesimals by early thermal evolution and collisions: Constraints for formation time and initial size of comets and small KBOs
• Dynamical Implantation of Blue Binaries in the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt
• Kuiper belt [wikipedia]

Discussions

• New this month on arXiv: Book chapter by Morbidelli and Nesvorný on formation and evolution of the Kuiper belt https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.02980 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Formation and Collisional Evolution of Kuiper Belt Objects
• The Dynamical Structure of the Kuiper Belt and its Primordial Origin
• Dynamics of the Kuiper Belt
• The Collisional Evolution of the Primordial Kuiper Belt, Its Destabilized Population, and the Trojan Asteroids
• RETENTION OF A PRIMORDIAL COLD CLASSICAL KUIPER BELT IN AN INSTABILITY-DRIVEN MODEL OF SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION