Title:
NOTE: Neptune Scattered Planetesimals Could Have Sculpted the Primordial
Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt
Authors:
Morbidelli, Alessandro; Valsecchi, Giovanni B.
Affiliation:
AA(Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, Nice, France), AB(Observatoire de la
Cote d'Azur, Nice, France)
Journal:
Icarus, Volume 128, Issue 2, pp. 464-468. (Icarus Homepage)
Publication Date:
08/1997
Origin:
ICAR
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 1997: Academic Press
Bibliographic Code:
1997Icar..128..464M
Abstract
We show that Neptune-scattered planetesimals of a few Earth masses could
have excited the eccentricities of the vast majority of
bodies in the primordial Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. This could result in
sculpting the belt to its currently observed structure and in
depleting most of its primordial mass by: (i) injecting most of the
bodies from the stable into the unstable regions in the inner belt;
(ii) enhancing the role of mutual catastrophic collisions in the outer
belt.