Debris disc stirring by secular perturbations from giant planets

Detectable debris discs are thought to require dynamical excitation (`stirring’), so that planetesimal collisions release large quantities of dust. We investigate the effects of the secular perturbations of a planet, which may lie at a significant distance from the planetesimal disc, to see if these perturbations can stir the disc, and if so over what time-scale. The secular perturbations cause orbits at different semi-major axes to precess at different rates, and after some time t_cross initially non-intersecting orbits begin to cross. We show that t_cross is proportional to a_disc^(9/2)/(m_pl e_pl a_pl^3), where m_pl, e_pl and a_pl are the mass, eccentricity, and semi-major axis of the planet, and a_disc is the semi-major axis of the disc. This time-scale can be faster than that for the growth of planetesimals to Pluto’s size within the outer disc. We also calculate the magnitude of the relative velocities induced amongst planetesimals and infer that a planet’s perturbations can typically cause destructive collisions out to 100’s of AU. Recently formed planets can thus have a significant impact on planet formation in the outer disc which may be curtailed by the formation of giant planets much closer to the star. The presence of an observed debris disc does not require the presence of Pluto-sized objects within it, since it can also have been stirred by a planet not in the disc. For the star epsilon Eridani, we find that the known RV planet can excite the planetesimal belt at 60 AU sufficiently to cause destructive collisions of bodies up to 100 km in size, on a time-scale of 40 Myr.

💡 Research Summary

The paper addresses a fundamental problem in debris‑disc astronomy: how do the planetesimals in a distant belt acquire enough relative velocity to produce the observable dust through destructive collisions? The conventional view holds that the belt must contain Pluto‑sized bodies whose gravitational stirring raises impact speeds to the destructive regime. The authors propose an alternative mechanism—secular perturbations from a giant planet located interior to the belt. Even if the planet does not physically intersect the disc, its long‑term (secular) gravitational field forces the orbits of disc particles to precess at rates that depend on semi‑major axis. Because the precession frequency varies with distance, particles on neighboring orbits gradually fall out of phase; after a finite time, their paths intersect and the relative velocities increase dramatically.

Using linear secular theory (Laplace‑Lagrange formalism) they derive an analytic expression for the “orbit‑crossing time” (t_{\rm cross}). For a disc at radius (a_{\rm disc}) perturbed by a planet of mass (m_{\rm p}), eccentricity (e_{\rm p}) and semi‑major axis (a_{\rm p}), they find

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