Chaotic capture of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids in the early Solar System
Abstract
Jupiter's Trojans are asteroids that follow essentially the same orbit as Jupiter, but lead or trail the planet by an angular distance of approximately 60 degrees (co-orbital motion). They are hypothesized to be planetesimals that formed near Jupiter and were captured onto their current orbits while Jupiter was growing, possibly with the help of gas drag and/or collisions. This idea, however, cannot explain some basic properties of the Trojan population, in particular its broad orbital inclination distribution, which ranges up to approximately 40 degrees (ref. 8). Here we show that the Trojans could have formed in more distant regions and been subsequently captured into co-orbital motion with Jupiter during the time when the giant planets migrated by removing neighbouring planetesimals. The capture was possible during a short period of time, just after Jupiter and Saturn crossed their mutual 1:2 resonance, when the dynamics of the Trojan region were completely chaotic. Our simulations of this process satisfactorily reproduce the orbital distribution of the Trojans and their total mass.
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The Nice model can explain the structure of the asteroid belt, some compositional variations therein, and the structure of Jupiter and Neptune's trojan populations.
“The Nice model can also explain not only the structure of the asteroid belt but also some of the compositional variations observed therein (Levison et al., 2009), along with the structure of both Jupiter and Neptune's trojan population (Morbidelli et al., 2005; Tsiganis et al., 2005; Sheppard and Trujillo, 2010).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Morbidelli et al., 2005
Two dominant models have emerged under the planetary accretion paradigm to explain the formation of planets and long-term evolution of the Solar System: the Grand Tack model and the Nice model.
“Two dominant models have emerged under the planetary accretion paradigm to explain the formation of planets and long-term evolution of the Solar System: the Grand Tack model, which focuses on planet formation (Walsh et al., 2011), and the Nice model, which focuses on long-term evolution (Gomes et al., 2005; Morbidelli et al., 2005; Tsiganis et al., 2005; Levison et al., 2011).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Morbidelli et al., 2005
Cites
Origin of the orbital architecture of the giant planets of the Solar System
Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., & Levison, H. F. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03539 · Cited by 1,476 · see citing works
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Origin of the orbital architecture of the giant planets of the Solar System
Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., & Levison, H. F. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03539 · Cited by 1,476 · see citing works
Self-citationTHE CANADA-FRANCE ECLIPTIC PLANE SURVEY—FULL DATA RELEASE: THE ORBITAL STRUCTURE OF THE KUIPER BELT
Petit, J.-M., Kavelaars, J. J., Gladman, B. J., Jones, R. L., Parker, J. W., Van Laerhoven, C., Nicholson, P., Mars, G., Rousselot, P., Mousis, O., et al. (2011) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-6256/142/4/131 · Cited by 289 · see citing works
Origin and Evolution of Short-period Comets
Nesvorný, D., Vokrouhlický, D., Dones, L., Levison, H. F., Kaib, N., & Morbidelli, A. (2017) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa7cf6 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Self-citationBatygin, K., Brown, M. E., & Fraser, W. C. (2011) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/738/1/13 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Constraining the Time Interval for the Origin of Life on Earth
Pearce, B. K. D., Tupper, A. S., Pudritz, R. E., & Higgs, P. G. (2018) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2017.1674 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Adamala, K., Arina de la Rubia, L., Bond, J., Dartnell, L. R., Goldman, A. D., Lynch, K., et al. (2016) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“, 2011), and the Nice model, which focuses on long-term evolution (Gomes et al., 2005; Morbidelli et al., 2005; Tsiganis et al., 2005; Levison et al., 2011).”
InfluentialA distant planetary-mass solar companion may have produced distant detached objects
GOMES, R., MATESE, J., & LISSAUER, J. (2006) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.05.026 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Self-citationObservational Constraints on Planet Nine: Astrometry of Pluto and Other Trans-Neptunian Objects
Holman, M. J., & Payne, M. J. (2016) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/4/80 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“…of current solar system formation models feature largescale planet migration(Malhotra 1993, 1995; Fernández & Ip 1996; Levison & Morbidelli 2003; Morbidelli et al. 2005; Tsiganis et al. 2005; Levison et al. 2008), additional giant planets formed ~5 35 au– from the Sun and then scattered within…”
BackgroundGeneration of Low-inclination, Neptune-crossing Trans-Neptunian Objects by Planet Nine
Batygin, K., Morbidelli, A., Brown, M. E., & Nesvorný, D. (2024) · The Astrophysical Journal Letters · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad3cd2 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Morbidelli, A., Levison, H. F., Tsiganis, K., & Gomes, R.
- Affiliations
- Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Morbidelli, A.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2005-05
- Volume
- 435
- Issue
- 7041
- Pages
- 462-465
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2041775599
- Cited by
- 939
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 75 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 53
- FWCI
- 21.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Satellite Systems and Control
- Keywords
- giant planet migration, early solar system dynamics, Late Heavy Bombardment, orbital inclination distribution, 1:2 resonance, planetesimals, orbital evolution
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