2024/03/10 by Yuxin Zhao, Antonios Kyriazis, P. Sikivie +1 · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Caustic (mathematics) #Cloud computing #Computer science #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Operating system #Physics #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.111.023019
arxiv published 2024/03/10 · openalex publication_date 2025/01/09 · arxiv updated 2025/01/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We investigate the effect of a dark matter caustic passing through the Solar System. We find, confirming a previous result, that the Sun tracks the caustic surface for some time. We integrate numerically the equations of motion of the Sun and a comet for a large number of initial conditions and of caustic passage properties. We calculate the probability for the comet to escape the Solar System and the probability for it to fall within 50 A.U. of the Sun, given the initial semimajor axis and eccentricity of its orbit. We find that the average probability for a comet to fall within 50 A.U. of the Sun is of order 3\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-4 and that comets which are initially at a distance larger than about 105 A.U. have a probability of order one to be ejected from the Solar System.