Orbital Evolution of Planetesimals in Gaseous Protoplanetary Disks

Orbital evolution of planetesimals in gaseous disks

Author:

Kobayashi

Abstract:

Planets are formed from collisional growth of small bodies in a protoplanetary disk. Bodies much larger than approximately 1\,m are mainly controlled by the gravity of the host star and experience weak gas drag; their orbits are mainly expressed by orbital elements: semimajor axes a, eccentricities e, and inclinations i, which are modulated by gas drag. In a previous study, a˙, e˙, and i˙ were analytically derived for e≪1 and i≪H/a, where H is the scale height of the disk. Their formulae are valid in the early stage of planet formation. However, once massive planets are formed, e and i increase greatly. Indeed, some small bodies in the solar system have very large e and i. Therefore, in this paper, I analytically derive formulae for a˙, e˙, and i˙ for 1−e2≪1 and i≪H/a and for i≫H/a. The formulae combined from these limited equations will represent the results of orbital integration unless e≥1 or i>π−H/a. Since the derived formulae are applicable for bodies not only in a protoplanetary disk but also in a circumplanetary disk, I discuss the possibility of the capture of satellites in a circumplanetary disk using the formulae.