Planetary Systems: from Plutos to Jupiters

我们的太阳系包含一个健康的天体生态系统，包括大量的矮行星（如冥王星），少数类地固体行星和类似数量的巨行星。 人们很自然地想知道所有这些行星的起源。 在过去的二十年里，我们可以研究的行星数量从8颗增加到数千颗。对太阳系外碎片盘的观测也揭示了其他恒星周围存在矮行星。我们需要一个新的行星形成框架，来解释这些系统中惊人的多样性和新兴的普遍性。 我们提出了一个理论研究计划来回答以下问题：如何做一个行星系统，出现的气体盘消失后，几百万年，设法保持其稳定性数十亿年？是什么让他们和平共处？ 我们的陆地行星的轨道是混乱的，但幸运的是，它的稳定寿命与太阳系的寿命相当。谁下的命令 其他行星系统也是如此吗？ 大多数行星系统看起来都像我们的太阳系吗？ 我们还将研究柯伊伯带区域，以解决这些问题：冥王星和其他柯伊伯带天体是如何在我们的太阳系中形成的？许多恒星的碎片盘比我们自己的柯伊伯带亮几个数量级。为什么我们的如此贫血？ 这些明亮的圆盘中的固体物质会形成类似地球甚至海王星的行星吗？ 或者，这些区域的行星形成是由于兄弟巨行星的搅动而停滞的？ 这些问题的答案为我们揭开行星如何产生的巨大谜团提供了重要线索。我们的研究是人类努力寻找我们在宇宙中的位置的一部分。

Our solar system contains a healthy ecosystem of bodies, including a multitude of dwarf planets (like Pluto), a handful of Earth-like solid planets, and a similar number of giant planets. It is natural to wonder about the origin of all these planets. Over the past two decades, the number of planets that we can study have increased from a mere 8 to thousands. The observations of extra-solar debris disks also disclose the presence of dwarf planets around other stars. A new framework for planet formation is called for, to explain the astounding diversity as well as the emergent universality observed in these systems. We propose a theoretical research program to answer the following questions: How do a planetary system, emerging out of the gaseous disk that disappears after a few million years, manage to maintain their stability billions of years? What organize them into their observed peaceful coexistence? Orbits of our terrestial planets are chaotic, but, fortunately, with a stability lifetime comparable to the solar system lifetime. Who orders that? Is this also true for other planetary systems? Do majority of planetary systems look at all like our solar system? We will also study the Kuiper belt region to address these questions: How do Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects form in our solar system? Many stars have debris disks orders of of magnitude brighter than our own Kuiper belt. Why is ours so anemic? Are solid materials in these bright disks forming into Earth-like or even Neptune-like planets? Or is planet formation in these regions stalled by stirring by sibling giant planets? Answers to these questions provide us with important pieces to unravel the great mystery of how planets arise. Our study is a part of the human endeavour of trying to find our place in the cosmos.