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E. B. Ford (University of California at Berkeley)
Dynamical instabilities in planetary systems with multiple giant planets can lead to planets undergoing close encounters and ultimately being ejected from the planetary system. Before a planet is ejected, it typically goes through an extended period of time during which the planet's apocenter is raised to large radial distances. During this stage, the planet passes through the outer regions of the planetary system. Since the timescales for planet formation increase with radial distance, only small solid bodies form in the outer regions of the planetary system. A highly eccentric giant planet with large apocenter distance can excite eccentricities and clear out regions of this outer disk. Additionally, a massive outer disk may affect the orbit of the planet. We will present results of direct numerical simulations of highly eccentric giant planets interacting with an outer planetesimal disk.
E.B.F. acknowledges the support of the Miller Institute for Basic Research and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. This research was supported in part by the Miller Institute for Basic Research, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY99-07949.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: 4hs4i9p02@sneakemail.com
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.