Co-orbital resonance with a migrating proto-giant planet

TL;DR

This paper investigates how migrating proto-giant planets in gaseous disks can capture small bodies into co-orbital resonance, potentially explaining the origin of Trojan populations and irregular satellites.

Contribution

It introduces a model for the capture and retention of small bodies in co-orbital resonance during planetary migration influenced by gas drag and circumplanetary disks.

Findings

Migration increases capture probability of small bodies.

Circumplanetary disks enhance the likelihood of co-orbital capture.

Capture mechanisms may explain Trojan and irregular satellite origins.

Abstract

In this work we pose the possibility that, at an early stage, the migration of a proto--giant planet caused by the presence of a gaseous circumstellar disk could explain the continuous feeding of small bodies into its orbit. Particularly, we study the probability of capture and permanence in co--orbital resonance of these small bodies, as planets of diverse masses migrate by interaction with the gaseous disk, and the drag induced by this disk dissipates energy from these small objects, making capture more likely. Also, we study the relevance of the circumplanetary disk, a structure formed closely around the planet where the gas density is enhanced, in the process of capture. It is of great interest for us to study the capture of small bodies in 1:1 resonance because it could account for the origin of the Trojan population, which has been proposed \citep{2011Icar..215..669K} as a mechanism of quasi-satellites and irregular satellites capture.