Accretion of Uranus and Neptune from inward-migrating planetary embryos blocked by Jupiter and Saturn

2015/06/09 by André Izidoro, Andre Izidoro, Alessandro Morbidelli +3 · 78 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astro and Planetary Science #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Jupiter (rocket family) #Neptune #Nice model #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Planet #Planetary migration #Solar System #Uranus #astro-ph.EP

paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201425525

published in Astronomy and Astrophysics 582, A99 (EDP Sciences) · Accepted for publication in A&A

arxiv created 2015/06/09 · openalex publication_date 2015/07/10 · arxiv updated 2015/10/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Reproducing Uranus and Neptune remains a challenge for simulations of solar system formation. The ice giants’ peculiar obliquities suggest that they both suffered giant collisions during their formation. Thus, there must have been an epoch of accretion dominated by collisions among large planetary embryos in the primordial outer solar system. We test this idea using N-body numerical simulations including the effects of a gaseous protoplanetary disk. One strong constraint is that the masses of the ice giants are very similar – the Neptune and Uranus mass ratio is ~1.18. We show that similar-sized ice giants do indeed form by collisions between planetary embryos beyond Saturn. The fraction of successful simulations varies depending on the initial number of planetary embryos in the system, their individual and total masses. Similar-sized ice giants are consistently reproduced in simulations starting with five to ten planetary embryos with initial masses of ~3–6 M⊕. We conclude that accretion from a population of planetary embryos is a plausible scenario for the origin of Uranus and Neptune.

Citations

• Statistical Study of the Early Solar System's Instability with 4, 5 and 6 Giant Planets
• Dynamics of the Giant Planets of the Solar System in the Gaseous Protoplanetary Disk and Their Relationship to the Current Orbital Architecture
• Origin of the structure of the Kuiper belt during a dynamical instability in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune
• Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars
• AN OUTER PLANET BEYOND PLUTO AND THE ORIGIN OF THE TRANS-NEPTUNIAN BELT ARCHITECTURE
• The distribution of mass in the planetary system and solar nebula
• Origin of the cataclysmic Late Heavy Bombardment period of the terrestrial planets
• On the formation and migration of giant planets in circumbinary discs
• Water delivery and giant impacts in the ‘Grand Tack’ scenario
• LATE ORBITAL INSTABILITIES IN THE OUTER PLANETS INDUCED BY INTERACTION WITH A SELF-GRAVITATING PLANETESIMAL DISK
• Oligarchic growth of giant planets
• Type I Planetary Migration in a Self‐Gravitating Disk
• PLANET OCCURRENCE WITHIN 0.25 AU OF SOLAR-TYPE STARS FROM KEPLER
• Tidal Heating of Extrasolar Planets
• A Sedna-like body with a perihelion of 80 astronomical units
• Tilting Saturn. II. Numerical Model
• Halting type I planet migration in non-isothermal disks
• On disc protoplanet interactions in a non-barotropic disc with thermal diffusion
• The Formation of Uranus and Neptune among Jupiter and Saturn
• Origin of the orbital architecture of the giant planets of the Solar System
• YOUNG SOLAR SYSTEM's FIFTH GIANT PLANET?
• Embedded star clusters and the formation of the Oort Cloud
• Tilting Saturn. I. Analytic Model
• The Keck Planet Search: Detectability and the Minimum Mass and Orbital Period Distribution of Extrasolar Planets
• The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. XIII. A planetary system with 3 Super-Earths (4.2, 6.9, & 9.2 Earth masses)

Cited by

• Challenges in planet formation
• Formation of Terrestrial Planets
• Formation of planetary systems by pebble accretion and migration: Hot super-Earth systems from breaking compact resonant chains