Can the Uranian Satellites Form from a Debris Disk Generated by a Giant Impact?

Hydrodynamic simulations of a giant impact to proto-Uranus indicated that such an impact could tilt its rotational axis and produce a circumplanetary debris disk beyond the corotation radius of Uranus. However, whether Uranian satellites can actually be formed from such a wide disk remains unclear....

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:The Astrophysical journal 2019-11, Vol.885 (2), p.132
Hauptverfasser: Ishizawa, Yuya, Sasaki, Takanori, Hosono, Natsuki
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext bestellen
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Hydrodynamic simulations of a giant impact to proto-Uranus indicated that such an impact could tilt its rotational axis and produce a circumplanetary debris disk beyond the corotation radius of Uranus. However, whether Uranian satellites can actually be formed from such a wide disk remains unclear. Herein, we modeled a wide debris disk of solids with several initial conditions inferred from the hydrodynamic simulations and performed N-body simulations to investigate in situ satellite formation from the debris disk. We also took account of orbital evolutions of satellites due to the planetary tides after the growth of satellites. We found that, in any case, the orbital distribution of the five major satellites could not be reproduced from the disk as long as the power index of its surface density is similar to that of the disk generated just after the giant impact. Satellites in the middle region obtained much larger masses than Ariel or Umbriel, while the outermost satellites did not grow to the mass of Oberon. Our results indicate that we should consider the thermal and viscous evolution of the evaporated disk after the giant impact to form the five major satellites through the in situ formation scenario. On the other hand, the small inner satellites would be formed from the rings produced by the disrupted satellites that migrated from around the corotation radius of Uranus due to the planetary tides.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab48ef