The Nice Model of Giant Planet Evolution
(Gomes, Levison, Morbidelli, & Tsiganis)
- The model asserts that the planetary system was initially compact:
- All 4 giant planets interior to ~15AU.
- A massive planetesimal disk out to ~30AU.
- Such a system evolves like
- System is initially stable.
- Leakage from disk cause planets to diverge.
- At 700Myr Jupiter and Saturn hit the
1:2 MMR.
- This destabilizes the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
- Ice giants scatter into disk.
- Interaction with disk circularize their orbits.
- The global instability scatters icy bodies
all over the Solar System.
Some hit the Earth and Moon.
- This model quantitatively reproduces the magnitude and duration of the LHB.
