The gravitational sculpting of the Kuiper belt

Abstract

Results are presented of numerical integrations over billion year time scales of the orbital evolution of more than one thousand test particles on initially low-inclination, low-eccentricity orbits within the proposed Kuiper belt beyond Neptune. Particles which eventually crossed Neptune's orbit often showed long periods (up to several billion years) of relatively low-eccentricity oscillations punctuated by a very rapid jump to Neptune-crossing eccentricity. This flux may be the ultimate source of present-day short-period comets. It is found here that there exists a correlation between Liapunov and crossing times in the Kuiper belt. None of the particles in the study with Liapunov time scales greater than about 1 Myr actually became a Neptune-crosser in 4 Gyr. An intricate structure to the region between 35 and 45 AU is found at the end of the billion year simulation. Implications for the origins of short-period comets and the detectability of objects currently in the Kuiper belt are discussed.