On the interstellar origin of high-inclination Centaurs

2020/09/21 by Fathi Namouni, M. H. M. Morais, Maria Helena Moreira Morais
Physics and Astronomy · #Asteroid #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Centaur #Geology #Neptune #Physics #Planet #Planetesimal #Solar System #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Trans-Neptunian object #astro-ph.EP

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stab3405

published as MNRAS 510, 276-291 (2022) · 16 pages, 9 figures

openalex publication_date 2020/09/21 · arxiv created 2022/01/04 · arxiv updated 2022/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Following our identification of the probable interstellar origin of high-inclination Centaurs, Morbidelli et al. (2020) issued a rebuttal criticizing our methods and conclusions. Here, we show that the criticism is unfounded. Entropy's increase in the past is not an obstacle to accessing the statistical properties of Centaur past orbits as entropic expansion occurs around a time-independent conserved quantity that explains the probable orbits' clustering in parameter space, known as the polar corridor. The Copernican principle does not imply that unstable motion does not exist in the solar system. It clarifies the meaning of the dynamical lifetime ensuring that Centaurs originating in the planetesimal disc are able to return to it in the time-backward simulation. Our conclusions are supported by published independent research that shows conventional disc relaxation models do not explain the abundance of high inclination Centaurs and that enrichment from the interstellar medium is required. Future physical observations of the identified Centaurs and TNOs are likely to reveal the similarities and differences between solar system-born and interstellar origin Centaurs.

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