Impact of planet--planet scattering on the formation and survival of debris disks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how planet--planet scattering influences the formation and survival of debris disks, showing that chaotic evolution often clears planetesimal belts, reducing debris disk likelihood, while mild evolution can promote their formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of how different degrees of planet--planet scattering affect debris disk formation and survival, offering statistical predictions for various evolutionary scenarios.

Findings

Chaotic scattering tends to clear planetesimal belts, lowering debris disk formation.

Mild scattering can stir planetesimal belts, promoting debris disk development.

Systems with chaotic evolution are less likely to host debris disks.

Abstract

Planet--planet scattering is a major dynamical mechanism able to significantly alter the architecture of a planetary system. In addition to that, it may also affect the formation and retention of a debris disk by the system. A violent chaotic evolution of the planets can easily clear leftover planetesimal belts preventing the ignition of a substantial collisional cascade that can give origin to a debris disk. On the other end, a mild evolution with limited steps in eccentricity and semimajor axis can trigger the formation of a debris disk by stirring an initially quiet planetesimal belt. The variety of possible effects that planet--planet scattering can have on the formation of debris disks is analysed and the statistical probability of the different outcomes is evaluated. This leads to the prediction that systems which underwent an episode of chaotic evolution might have a lower probability of harboring a debris disk.