# Giant Planets Can Act As Stabilizing Agents on Debris Disks

## TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to show that giant planets can either stabilize or destabilize debris disks depending on the total mass of dwarf planet-sized objects and the presence of the giant planet.

## Contribution

It reveals the dual role of giant planets as stabilizers or dispersers in debris disks based on the mass of dwarf planet-sized objects.

## Key findings

- Giant planets stabilize debris disks at low dwarf planet mass.
- Giant planets increase dispersion at high dwarf planet mass.
- Stirring scales linearly without a giant planet, quadratically with it.

## Abstract

We have explored the evolution of a cold debris disk under the gravitational influence of dwarf planet sized objects (DPs), both in the presence and absence of an interior giant planet. Through detailed long-term numerical simulations, we demonstrate that, when the giant planet is not present, DPs can stir the eccentricities and inclinations of disk particles, in linear proportion to the total mass of the DPs; on the other hand, when the giant planet is included in the simulations, the stirring is approximately proportional to the mass squared. This creates two regimes: below a disk mass threshold (defined by the total mass of DPs), the giant planet acts as a stabilizing agent of the orbits of cometary nucleii, diminishing the effect of the scatterers; above the threshold, the giant contributes to the dispersion of the particles.