Dynamical Shakeup of Planetary Systems II. N-body simulations of Solar System terrestrial planet formation induced by secular resonance sweeping

TL;DR

This study uses extensive N-body simulations to demonstrate that secular resonance sweeping, combined with gas disk damping, can explain the low eccentricities, high mass concentration, and rapid formation of Solar System terrestrial planets, also facilitating water delivery.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model incorporating secular resonance sweeping and tidal damping, showing improved alignment with observed planetary properties and formation timescales.

Findings

Reproduces low eccentricities and inclinations of terrestrial planets.

Achieves faster planet formation timescales (~tens of millions of years).

Naturally results in water-rich material delivery from the outer belt.

Abstract

We revisit the "dynamical shakeup" model of Solar System terrestrial planet formation, wherein the whole process is driven by the sweeping of Jupiter's secular resonance as the gas disk is removed. Using a large number of 0.5 Gyr-long N-body simulations, we investigate the different outcomes produced by such a scenario. We confirm that in contrast to existing models, secular resonance sweeping combined with tidal damping by the disk gas can reproduce the low eccentricities and inclinations, and high radial mass concentration, of the Solar System terrestrial planets. At the same time, this also drives the final assemblage of the planets on a timescale of several tens of millions of years, an order of magnitude faster than inferred from previous numerical simulations which neglected these effects, but possibly in better agreement with timescales inferred from cosmochemical data. In addition, we find that significant delivery of water-rich material from the outer Asteroid Belt is a natural byproduct.