Empty gaps? Depleting annular regions in debris discs by secular resonance with a two-planet system

TL;DR

This paper explores how secular resonances caused by two-planet systems can create gaps in debris discs, using theoretical analysis and N-body simulations to match observed structures like those in HD 107146.

Contribution

It demonstrates how secular resonances can deplete debris discs and identifies planetary configurations that reproduce observed disc features through combined analytical and simulation methods.

Findings

Secular resonances can produce observable gaps in debris discs.

N-body simulations show large eccentricities near resonance locations.

Double-ringed disc structures can form with offset inner rings and spiral outer rings.

Abstract

We investigate the evolution on secular time-scales of a radially extended debris disc under the influence of a system of two coplanar planets interior to the disc, showing that the secular resonances of the system can produce a depleted region in the disc by exciting the eccentricities of planetesimals. Using Laplace-Lagrange theory, we consider how the two exterior secular resonance locations, time-scales and widths depend on the masses, semi-major axes and eccentricities of the planets. In particular, we find that unless the resonances are very close to each other, one of them is very narrow and therefore unimportant for determining the observable structure of the disc. We apply these considerations to the debris disc of HD 107146, identifying combinations of the parameters of a possible unobserved two-planet system that could configure the secular resonances appropriately to reproduce the depletion observed in the disc. By performing N-body simulations of such systems, we find that planetesimal eccentricities do indeed become large near the theoretical secular resonance locations. The N-body output is post-processed to set the initial surface density profile of the disc, and to include the possible effects of collisional depletion. We find that it is possible to obtain a double-ringed disc in these simulations but not an axisymmetric one, with the inner ring having an offset whose magnitude depends on the eccentricities of the planets, and the outer ring showing spiral structure.