Astronomy19 papers
Mean-motion resonances in the Solar system
A curated collection of essential papers on mean-motion resonances in the asteroid belt, TNO, and beyond.
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Evgeny Smirnov
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The Perturbation Theory Approach to Stability in the Scattered Disk
Belyakov, Matthew & Batygin, Konstantin (2025)
- Published
- Aug 13, 2025
- DOI
- 10.48550/arXiv.2508.10119
At a GlanceAI
Extends scattered-disk resonance theory beyond leading order, showing chaos arises from intersections of multiple j-series MMR chains.
SummaryAI
Scattered disk objects often evolve chaotically due to Neptune’s perturbations, and understanding where stable motion ends is key to explaining the observed population. Building on Batygin et al. (2021), this work extends the perturbation-theory model to octupole order and beyond, adding new families of mean-motion resonances (e.g., 1:j and 3:j) to the framework. The authors argue these new resonances do not by themselves redefine the stability boundary; instead, as orbits approach Neptune, progressively higher-index resonances dominate. The resulting picture is that local chaotic diffusion and the large-scale scattered-disk distribution are shaped by mutual intersections among multiple resonant chains (2:j, 3:j, 4:j, …).
Method SnapshotAI
High-order perturbation theory using a spherical-harmonic expansion of Neptune’s potential to analyze overlapping mean-motion resonance chains.
BackgroundAI
Celestial mechanics with mean-motion resonances, perturbation theory, and chaos/Chirikov-style resonance overlap concepts.