Formation of Centaurs' rings through their partial tidal disruption during planetary encounters

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the rings around Centaurs like Chariklo and Chiron could form naturally through partial tidal disruption during close planetary encounters, leading to debris disks and potential satellite formation.

Contribution

It introduces a new model where tidal disruption of differentiated objects during planetary flybys explains the origin of Centaurs' rings, supported by numerical simulations.

Findings

Tidal disruption can produce debris disks within the Roche limit.

Ring mass can be 0.1-10% of the object's mass.

Spreading debris can form satellites beyond the Roche limit.

Abstract

Centaurs are minor planets orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune that have or had crossing orbits with one or more giant planets. Recent observations and reinterpretation of previous observations have revealed the existence of ring systems around 10199 Chariklo and 2060 Chiron. However, the origin of the ring systems around such a minor planet is still an open question. Here, we propose that the tidal disruption of a differentiated object that experiences a close encounter with a giant planet could naturally form diverse ring-satellite systems around the Centaurs. During the close encounter, the icy mantle of the passing object is preferentially ripped off by the planet's tidal force and the debris is distributed mostly within the Roche limit of the largest remnant body. Assuming the existence of $20-50$wt% silicate core below the icy mantle, a disk of particles is formed when the objects pass within $0.4-0.8$ of the planet's Roche limit with the relative velocity at infinity $3-6$km s$^{-1}$ and 8h initial spin period of the body. The resultant ring mass is $0.1-10$% of the central object's mass. Such particle disks are expected to spread radially, and materials spreading beyond the Roche limit would accrete into satellite(s). Our numerical results suggest that ring formation would be a natural outcome of such extreme close encounters and Centaurs can naturally have such ring systems because they cross the orbits of the giant planets.