Can Neptune’s Distant Mean Motion Resonances Constrain Undiscovered Planets in the Solar System? Lessons from a Case Study of the 9:1 Resonance

Abstract

Recent observational surveys of the outer solar system provide evidence that Neptune's distant n :1 mean motion resonances may harbor relatively large reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). In particular, the discovery of two securely classified 9:1 resonators, 2015 KE _172 and 2007 TC _434 , by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey is consistent with a population of order 10 ^4 such objects in the 9:1 resonance with absolute magnitude H _r < 8.66. This work investigates whether the long-term stability of such populations in Neptune’s n :1 resonances can be used to constrain the existence of distant 5–10 M _⊕ planets orbiting at hundreds of au. The existence of such a planet has been proposed to explain a reported clustering in the orbits of highly eccentric “extreme” trans-Neptunian objects (or eTNOs), although this hypothesis remains controversial. We engage in a focused computational case study of the 9:1 resonance, generating synthetic populations and integrating them for 1 Gyr in the presence of 81 different test planets with various masses, perihelion distances, eccentricities, and inclinations. While none of the tested planets are incompatible with the existence of 9:1 resonators, our integrations shed light on the character of the interaction between such planets and nearby n :1 resonances, and we use this knowledge to construct a simple heuristic method for determining whether or not a given planet could destabilize a given resonant population. We apply this method to the currently estimated properties of Planet 9, and find that a large primordial population in the 15:1 resonance (or beyond), if discovered in the future, could potentially constrain the existence of this planet.

Keywords

• Solar system
• Small Solar System bodies
• Orbits
• Orbital resonances
• Solar system planets
• Trans-Neptunian objects