A Scaling Law for the Orbital Architecture of Planetary Systems Formed by Gravitational Scattering and Collisions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kokubo, Eiichiro, Hoshino, Haruka, Matsumoto, Yuji, Sari, Re'em
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Kokubo, Eiichiro
Hoshino, Haruka
Matsumoto, Yuji
Sari, Re'em
author_facet Kokubo, Eiichiro
Hoshino, Haruka
Matsumoto, Yuji
Sari, Re'em
contents In the standard formation models of terrestrial planets in the solar system and close-in super-Earths in non-resonant orbits recently discovered by exoplanet observations, planets are formed by giant impacts of protoplanets or planetary embryos after the dispersal of protoplanetary disk gas in the final stage. This study aims to theoretically clarify a fundamental scaling law for the orbital architecture of planetary systems formed by giant impacts. In the giant impact stage, protoplanets gravitationally scatter and collide with one another to form planets. Using {\em N}-body simulations, we investigate the orbital architecture of planetary systems formed from protoplanet systems by giant impacts. As the orbital architecture parameters, we focus on the mean orbital separation between two adjacent planets and the mean orbital eccentricity of planets in a planetary system. We find that the orbital architecture is determined by the ratio of the two-body surface escape velocity of planets $v_\mathrm{esc}$ to the Keplerian circular velocity $v_\mathrm{K}$, $k$ = The mean orbital separation and eccentricity are about $2 ka$ and $0.3 k$, respectively, where $a$ is the system semimajor axis. With this scaling, the orbital architecture parameters of planetary systems are nearly independent of their total mass and semimajor axis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_06738
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Scaling Law for the Orbital Architecture of Planetary Systems Formed by Gravitational Scattering and Collisions
Kokubo, Eiichiro
Hoshino, Haruka
Matsumoto, Yuji
Sari, Re'em
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
In the standard formation models of terrestrial planets in the solar system and close-in super-Earths in non-resonant orbits recently discovered by exoplanet observations, planets are formed by giant impacts of protoplanets or planetary embryos after the dispersal of protoplanetary disk gas in the final stage. This study aims to theoretically clarify a fundamental scaling law for the orbital architecture of planetary systems formed by giant impacts. In the giant impact stage, protoplanets gravitationally scatter and collide with one another to form planets. Using {\em N}-body simulations, we investigate the orbital architecture of planetary systems formed from protoplanet systems by giant impacts. As the orbital architecture parameters, we focus on the mean orbital separation between two adjacent planets and the mean orbital eccentricity of planets in a planetary system. We find that the orbital architecture is determined by the ratio of the two-body surface escape velocity of planets $v_\mathrm{esc}$ to the Keplerian circular velocity $v_\mathrm{K}$, $k$ = The mean orbital separation and eccentricity are about $2 ka$ and $0.3 k$, respectively, where $a$ is the system semimajor axis. With this scaling, the orbital architecture parameters of planetary systems are nearly independent of their total mass and semimajor axis.
title A Scaling Law for the Orbital Architecture of Planetary Systems Formed by Gravitational Scattering and Collisions
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06738