arXiv subjects

Keiji Ohtsuki

Publications and source records attributed to Keiji Ohtsuki.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Where planetary solids survive sublimation around young and hot white dwarfs

All observed planetary systems orbiting single white dwarfs have lived through the hot stellar transition from an asymptotic giant branch star. In this post-nebular transition period, the initial conditions for planetary system evolution throughout white dwarf cooling are established. The hottest ($\gtrsim$ 20,000 K) and youngest ($\lesssim$ 20 Myr-old) white dwarf planetary system host stars differ significantly from their canonical older and colder counterparts by failing to support solid body accumulation in the immediate vicinity (a few $R_{\odot}$) of the white dwarf. Here, we analyse the likely locations of both solid-body survival and the sublimated gaseous content during this pivotal epoch, and the consequences. We find that (i) reservoirs of iron-rich, rocky and water-rich asteroids of radius $R$ that later observably enrich, or pollute, the white dwarf need to remain parked for the first tens of Myr of white dwarf cooling beyond critical distances of (16 au)$\times(1 {\rm km}/R)^{1/2}$ (for iron), (30 au)$\times(1 {\rm km}/R)^{1/2}$ (for rock) and (130 au)$\times(1 {\rm km}/R)^{1/2}$ (for snow), (ii) sublimation acts much more quickly than radiatively-driven orbital drifts from Poynting-Robertson drag or the Yarkovsky effect, and (iii) although large asteroids ($R \approx$ 10-1000 km) that are kicked on highly eccentric orbits around newly born white dwarfs could survive sublimation, they may fragment into debris which will sublime before the white dwarf cools. These results support, but do not necessitate, dynamical origin scenarios of polluted white dwarfs that feature delayed gravitational instability subsequent to the host star's asymptotic giant branch phase at Kuiper Belt-like distances, and beyond.

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arXiv2026

Color and Size Distributions of Small Jupiter Trojans

We conducted a two-band imaging survey observation using the Subaru Telescope and its wide-field camera, Suprime-Cam, to study the visible colors and size distribution of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. The survey covered an area around Jupiter's L4 Lagrange point totaling 9.2 square degrees. We detected 120 Trojan asteroids in this survey. From these Trojan asteroids, we extracted 44 unbiased samples with absolute magnitudes in the $g^\prime$ band ranging from 12.9 to 16.9 mag (corresponding to diameter ranges of approximately $\sim$3 - 16 km assuming an albedo of 0.05) and analyzed their $g^\prime - i^\prime$ color and size distributions. Large Jupiter Trojan asteroids are known to be classified into two color groups, ''red'' and ''less red''. We found that such bimodality in the color distribution is absent for small Jupiter Trojan asteroids, which is consistent with previous studies. Previous studies have also shown that these two groups have different slopes in the magnitude distributions from each other, which was explained by conversion of red objects to less-red fragments through catastrophic disruptions. In contrast, we found that the size frequency distributions of our two sample groups divided by the color of $g^\prime - i^\prime$ = 0.7 (in AB magnitude) are quite similar. Our results can provide new insights into collisional evolution of color and size distribution of small Jupiter Trojans.

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arXiv2025

Rings around giant planets and smaller bodies

All the four giant planets in our Solar System have rings, but their characteristics are very different. The rings consist of a number of small particles, although individual particles have not been directly imaged. Near the central planet, colliding particles bounce off each other in low-velocity impacts but cannot gravitationally merge due to the effect of the tidal force, resulting in the formation of rings, whereas in more distant regions particles can gravitationally accrete to form satellites. Rings exhibit various types of fine structure, and the mutual gravitational forces between particles and the gravity from satellites play an important role in rings of macroscopic particles, while non-gravitational forces are important for dusty rings. There are several theories about the origin of rings, and formation mechanisms are likely to be different among different ring systems. The rings of small Solar System bodies were discovered through observations of occultations of stars by these bodies. It is natural to expect that some exoplanets should also have rings, but their detection remains challenging. Future discovery of more ring-moon systems around small bodies and exoplanets will provide clues to understanding the formation and evolution of the central bodies that host them.

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arXiv2025

Discovery and dynamics of a Sedna-like object with a perihelion of 66 au

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with large perihelion distances ($q > 60$ au) and semi-major axes ($a > 200$ au) provide insights into the early evolution of the solar system and the existence of a hypothetical distant planet. These objects are still rare and their detection is challenging, yet they play a crucial role in constraining models of solar system formation. Here we report the discovery of a Sedna-like TNO, 2023\,KQ$_{14}$, nicknamed `Ammonite', with $q = 66$ au, $a = 252$ au, and inclination $i=11^\circ$. Ammonite's orbit does not align with those of the other Sedna-like objects and fills the previously unexplained `$q$-gap' in the observed distribution of distant solar system objects. Simulations demonstrate that Ammonite is dynamically stable over 4.5 billion years. % with less than 1\% variation in its semi-major axis. Our analysis suggests that Ammonite and the other Sedna-like objects may have shared a primordial orbital clustering around 4.2 billion years ago. Furthermore, Ammonite's stable orbit favors larger orbits ($\sim$ 500 au) rather than closer ones for a large hypothetical planet in present-day trans-Neptunian space.

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arXiv2024

Delivery of Dust Particles from Protoplanetary Disks onto Circumplanetary Disks of Giant Planets

Principal regular satellites of gas giants are thought to be formed by the accumulation of solid materials in circumplanetary disks (CPDs). While there has been significant progress in the study of satellite formation in CPDs, details of the supply of satellite building blocks to CPDs remain unclear. We performed orbital integration of solid particles in the protoplanetary disk (PPD) approaching a planet, considering the gas drag force using the results of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of a local region around the planet. We investigated planetary-mass dependence of the capture positions and capture rates of dust particles accreting onto the CPD. We also examined the degree of dust retention in accreting gas onto the CPD, which is important for determining the ratio of dust-to-gas inflow rates, a key parameter in satellite formation. We found that the degree of dust retention increases with increasing planetary mass for a given dust scale height in the PPD. In the case of a small planet ($M_{\rm p}=0.2M_{\rm Jup}$), most particles with insufficient initial altitudes in the PPD are isolated from the gas in the accreting region. On the other hand, in the case of a massive planet ($M_{\rm p}=1M_{\rm Jup}$), dust particles can be coupled to the vertically accreting gas, even when the dust scale height is about $10-30$\% of the gas scale height. The results of this study can be used for models of dust delivery and satellite formation in the CPDs of gas giants of various masses, including exoplanets.

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arXiv2022

Delivery of gas onto the circumplanetary disk of giant planets: Planetary-mass dependence of the source region of accreting gas and mass accretion rate

Gas accretion onto the circumplanetary disks and the source region of accreting gas are important to reveal dust accretion that leads to satellite formation around giant planets. We performed local three-dimensional high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of isothermal and inviscid gas flow around a planet to investigate planetary-mass dependence of gas accretion band width and gas accretion rate onto circumplanetary disks. We examined cases with various planetary masses corresponding to M_p=0.05-1M_{Jup} at 5.2 au, where M_{Jup} is the current Jovian mass. We found that the radial width of the gas accretion band is proportional to M_p^{1/6} for the low-mass regime with M_p < 0.2 M_{Jup} while it is proportional to M_p for the high-mass regime with M_p > 0.2M_{Jup}. We found that the ratio of the mass accretion rate onto the circumplanetary disk to that into the Hill sphere is about 0.4 regardless of planetary mass for the cases we examined. Combining our results with the gap model obtained from global hydrodynamic simulations, we derive semi-analytical formulae of mass accretion rate onto circumplanetary disks. We found that the mass dependence of our three-dimensional accretion rates is the same as the previously-obtained two-dimensional case, although the qualitative behavior of accretion flow onto the CPD is quite different between the two cases.

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arXiv2022

A global system of furrows on Ganymede indicative of their creation in a single impact event

Furrows are a concentric system of tectonic troughs, and are the oldest recognizable surface feature on Ganymede. We analyzed the distribution of furrows utilizing Voyager and Galileo images and found that furrows over Ganymede's surface are part of a global concentric circular structure. If this multi-ring structure is impact origin, this is the largest impact structure identified so far in the solar system. Deviations of the shapes of the furrows from the concentricity are small everywhere, which implies that the relative location of the blocks of the dark terrains over the entire surface of Ganymede has not changed appreciably even during formation of the bright terrains. The estimate of the impactor size is difficult, but an 150km-radius impactor is consistent with the observed properties of furrows. The furrow-forming impact should have significant effects on the satellite's geological and internal evolution, which are expected to be confirmed by future explorations of Jupiter's icy moons, such as the JUICE (Jupiter Icy moon Explorer) or Europa Clipper mission.

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arXiv2022

Disruption of Saturn's ring particles by thermal stress

Spacecraft and ground-based observations show that the main rings of Saturn lack particles larger than 10 m. Tidal or collisional destruction of satellites/comets have been proposed as the origin of the main rings; however, Saturn's tide alone cannot grind km-sized fragments into submeter-sized particles because of the high mechanical strength of water ice and rock. The question arises as to why such large particles are not left in the current ring. It is known that thermal stress induced by diurnal and seasonal temperature variations can cause weathering and fragmentation of boulders and contribute to dust and regolith production on the Moon and terrestrial planets, and then such thermal stress can break particles larger than a critical radius while cannot smaller than the critical radius. In this study, we examined the role of thermal stress acting on Saturn's ring particles. We found that thermal stress can grind porous ring particles larger than 10-20 m, which explains the lack of particles larger than 10 m in Saturn's ring. Also, fragmentation by thermal stress can be adoptable for the Epsilon rings of Uranus. Furthermore, thermal stress caused by diurnal or seasonal temperature variation acting on boulders on surfaces of icy satellites and asteroids may play an important role in the evolution of their sizes. Our calculations explain the lack of boulders on icy satellites, except in the geologically active provinces such as the tiger stripes of Enceladus, where boulders are supplied by recent geological activity. We predict that future observations can find numerous boulders around Europa's geologically active cracks.

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arXiv2022

Electrostatic Dust Ejection From Asteroid (3200) Phaethon With the Aid of Mobile Alkali Ions at Perihelion

The asteroid (3200) Phaethon is known to be the parent body of the Geminids, although meteor showers are commonly associated with the activity of periodic comets. What is most peculiar to the asteroid is its comet-like activity in the ejection of micrometer-sized dust particles at every perihelion passage, while the activity of the asteroid has never been identified outside the near-perihelion zone at $0.14~\mathrm{au}$ from the Sun. From the theoretical point of view, we argue that the activity of the asteroid is well explained by the electrostatic lofting of micrometer-sized dust particles with the aid of mobile alkali ions at high temperatures. The mass-loss rates of micrometer-sized particles from the asteroid in our model is entirely consistent with the values inferred from visible observations of Phaethon's dust tail. For millimeter-sized particles, we predict three orders of magnitudes higher mass-loss rates, which could also account for the total mass of the Geminid meteoroid stream by the electrostatic lofting mechanism.

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arXiv2022

Size Distribution of Small Jupiter Trojans in the L5 Swarm

We present an analysis of survey observations of the trailing L5 Jupiter Trojan swarm using the wide-field Hyper Suprime-Cam CCD camera on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. We detected 189 L5 Trojans from our survey that covered about 15 deg^2 of sky with a detection limit of m_r = 24.1 mag, and selected an unbiased sample consisting of 87 objects with absolute magnitude 14 < H_r < 17 corresponding to diameter 2 km < D < 10 km for analysis of size distribution. We fit their differential magnitude distribution to a single-slope power-law with an index α= 0.37 +- 0.01, which corresponds to a cumulative size distribution with an index of b = 1.85 +- 0.05. Combining our results with data for known asteroids, we obtained the size distribution of L5 Jupiter Trojans over the entire size range for 9 < H_V < 17, and found that the size distributions of the L4 and L5 swarms agree well with each other for a wide range of sizes. This is consistent with the scenario that asteroids in the two swarms originated from the same primordial population. Based on the above results, the ratio of the total number of asteroids with D > 2 km in the two swarms is estimated to be N_L4/N_L5=1.40 +- 0.15, and the total number of L_5 Jupiter Trojans with D > 1 km is estimated to be 1.1 x 10^5 by extrapolating the obtained distribution.

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arXiv2021

Size distributions of bluish and reddish small main-belt asteroids obtained by Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam

We performed a wide-field survey observation of small asteroids using the Hyper Suprime-Cam installed on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope. We detected more than 3,000 main-belt asteroids with a detection limit of 24.2 mag in the r-band, which were classified into two groups (bluish C-like and reddish S-like) by the g-r color of each asteroid and obtained size distributions of each group. We found that the shapes of size distributions of asteroids with the C-like and S-like colors agree with each other in the size range of 0.4-5 km in diameter. Assuming the asteroid population in this size range is under collision equilibrium, our results indicate that compositional difference hardly affects the size dependence of impact strength, at least for the size range between several hundred meters and several kilometers. This size range corresponds to the size range of ``spin-barrier'', an upper limit observed in the rotation rate distribution. Our results are consistent with the view that most asteroids in this size range have a rubble-pile structure.

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arXiv2021

FOSSIL: I. The Spin Rate Limit of Jupiter Trojans

Rotation periods of 53 small (diameters $2 < D < 40$ km) Jupiter Trojans (JTs) were derived using the high-cadence light curves obtained by the FOSSIL phase I survey, a Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam intensive program. These are the first reported periods measured for JTs with $D < 10$ km. We found a lower limit of the rotation period near 4 hr, instead of the previously published result of 5 hr (Ryan et al. 2017; Szabo et al. 2017, 2020) found for larger JTs. Assuming a rubble-pile structure for JTs, a bulk density of 0.9 gcm$^{-3}$ is required to withstand this spin rate limit, consistent with the value $0.8-1.0$ gcm$^{-3}$ (Marchis et al. 2006; Mueller et al. 2010; Buie et al. 2015; Berthier et al. 2020) derived from the binary JT system, (617) Patroclus-Menoetius system.

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arXiv2018

Colors of Centaurs observed by the Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam and implications for their origin

Centaurs have orbits between Jupiter and Neptune and are thought to originate from the trans-Neptunian region. Observations of surface properties of Centaurs and comparison with those of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) would provide constraints on their origin and evolution. We analyzed imaging data of nine known Centaurs observed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) installed on the Subaru Telescope with the g and i band filters. Using the data available in the public HSC data archive as well as those obtained by the HSC Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) by the end of June, 2017, we obtained the g-i colors of the nine Centaurs. We compared them with those of known TNOs in the HSC-SSP data obtained by Terai et al. (2018). We found that the color distribution of the nine Centaurs is similar to that of those TNOs with high orbital inclinations, but distinct from those TNOs with low orbital inclinations. We also examined correlations between the colors of these Centaurs and their orbital elements and absolute magnitude. The Centaurs' colors show a moderate positive correlation with semi-major axis, while no significant correlations between the color and other orbital elements or absolute magnitude were found for these Centaurs. On the other hand, recent studies on Centaurs with larger samples show interesting correlations between their color and absolute magnitude or orbital inclination. We discuss how our data fit in these previous studies, and also discuss implications of these results for their origin and evolution.

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arXiv2017

Multi-band Photometry of Trans-Neptunian Objects in the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey

We present a visible multi-band photometry of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) observed by the Subaru Telescope in the framework of Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) from March in 2014 to September in 2016. We measured the five broad-band (g, r, i, z, and Y) colors over the wavelength range from 0.4 um to 1.0 um for 30 known TNOs using the HSC-SSP survey data covering ~500 deg2 of sky within +/-30 deg of ecliptic latitude. This dataset allows us to characterize the dynamical classes based on visible reflectance spectra as well as to examine the relationship between colors and the other parameters such as orbital elements. Our results show that the hot classical and scattered populations share similar color distributions, while the cold classical population has a reflective decrease toward shorter wavelength below the i band. Based on the obtained color properties, we found that the TNO sample examined in the present work can be separated into two groups by inclination (I), the low-I population consisting of cold classical objects and high-I population consisting of hot classical and scattered objects. The whole sample exhibits an anti-correlation between colors and inclination, but no significant correlation between colors and semi-major axis, perihelion distance, eccentricity, or absolute magnitude. The color-inclination correlation does not seem to be continuous over the entire inclination range. Rather, it is seen only in the high-I population. We found that the low- and high-I populations are distinguishable in the g-i vs. eccentricity plot, but four high-I objects show g-i colors similar to those of the low-I population. If we exclude these four objects, the high-I objects show a positive correlation between g-i and eccentricity and a negative correlation between g-i and inclination with high significance levels.

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arXiv2017

Distribution of captured planetesimals in circumplanetary gas disks and implications for accretion of regular satellites

Regular satellites of giant planets are formed by accretion of solid bodies in circumplanetary disks. Planetesimals that are moving on heliocentric orbits and are sufficiently large to be decoupled from the flow of the protoplanetary gas disk can be captured by gas drag from the circumplanetary disk. In the present work, we examine the distribution of captured planetesimals in circumplanetary disks using orbital integrations. We find that the number of captured planetesimals reaches an equilibrium state as a balance between continuous capture and orbital decay into the planet. The number of planetesimals captured into retrograde orbits is much smaller than those on prograde orbits, because the former ones experience strong headwind and spiral into the planet rapidly. We find that the surface number density of planetesimals at the current radial location of regular satellites can be significantly enhanced by gas drag capture, depending on the velocity dispersions of planetesimals and the width of the gap in the protoplanetary disk. Using a simple model, we also examine the ratio of the surface densities of dust and captured planetesimals in the circumplanetary disk, and find that solid material at the current location of regular satellites can be dominated by captured planetesimals when the velocity dispersion of planetesimals is rather small and a wide gap is not formed in the protoplanetary disk. In this case, captured planetesimals in such a region can grow by mutual collision before spiraling into the planet, and would contribute to the growth of regular satellites.

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arXiv2016

Ring Formation around Giant Planets by Tidal Disruption of a Single Passing Large Kuiper Belt Object

The origin of rings around giant planets remains elusive. Saturn's rings are massive and made of 90-95% of water ice. In contrast, the much less massive rings of Uranus and Neptune are dark and likely to have higher rock fraction. Here we investigate, for the first time, the tidal disruption of a passing object, including the subsequent formation of planetary rings. First, we perform SPH simulations of the tidal destruction of big differentiated objects ($M_{\rm body}=10^{21-23}$) that experience close encounters with Saturn or Uranus. We find that about $0.1-10$% of the mass of the passing body is gravitationally captured around the planet. However, these fragments are initially big chunks and have highly eccentric orbits around the planet. Then, we perform N-body simulations including the planet's oblateness, starting with data obtained from the SPH simulations. Our N-body simulations show that the chunks are tidally destroyed during their next several orbits. Their individual orbits then start to precess incoherently around the planet's equator, which enhances their encounter velocities on longer-term evolution, resulting in more destructive impacts. These collisions would damp their eccentricities resulting in a progressive collapse of the debris cloud into a thin equatorial and low-eccentricity ring. These high energy impacts are expected to be catastrophic enough to produce small particles. Our numerical results also show that the mass of formed rings is large enough to explain current rings including inner regular satellites around Saturn and Uranus. In the case of Uranus, a body can go deeper inside the planet's Roche limit resulting in a more efficient capture of rocky material compared to Saturn's case in which mostly ice is captured. Thus, our results can naturally explain the compositional difference between the rings of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

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arXiv2016

Formation of Centaurs' rings through their partial tidal disruption during planetary encounters

Centaurs are minor planets orbiting between Jupiter and Neptune that have or had crossing orbits with one or more giant planets. Recent observations and reinterpretation of previous observations have revealed the existence of ring systems around 10199 Chariklo and 2060 Chiron. However, the origin of the ring systems around such a minor planet is still an open question. Here, we propose that the tidal disruption of a differentiated object that experiences a close encounter with a giant planet could naturally form diverse ring-satellite systems around the Centaurs. During the close encounter, the icy mantle of the passing object is preferentially ripped off by the planet's tidal force and the debris is distributed mostly within the Roche limit of the largest remnant body. Assuming the existence of $20-50$wt% silicate core below the icy mantle, a disk of particles is formed when the objects pass within $0.4-0.8$ of the planet's Roche limit with the relative velocity at infinity $3-6$km s$^{-1}$ and 8h initial spin period of the body. The resultant ring mass is $0.1-10$% of the central object's mass. Such particle disks are expected to spread radially, and materials spreading beyond the Roche limit would accrete into satellite(s). Our numerical results suggest that ring formation would be a natural outcome of such extreme close encounters and Centaurs can naturally have such ring systems because they cross the orbits of the giant planets.

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arXiv2016

Orbital characteristics of planetesimals captured by circumplanetary gas disks

Sufficiently massive growing giant planets have circumplanetary disks, and the capture of solid bodies by the disks would likely influence the growth of the planets and formation of satellite systems around them. In addition to dust particles that are supplied to the disk with inflowing gas, recent studies suggest the importance of capture of planetesimals whose motion is decoupled from the gas, but orbital evolution of captured bodies in circumplanetary gas disks has not been studied in detail. In the present work, using three-body orbital integration and analytic calculations, we examine orbital characteristics and subsequent dynamical evolution of planetesimals captured by gas drag from circumplanetary gas disks. We find that the semi-major axes of the planet-centered orbits of planetesimals at the time of permanent capture are smaller than about one third of the planet's Hill radius in most cases. Typically, captured bodies rapidly spiral into the planet, and the rate of the orbital decay is faster for the retrograde orbits due to the strong headwind from the circumplanetary gas. When a planetesimal captured into a retrograde orbit suffers from sufficiently strong gas drag before spiraling into the planet, its orbit turns to the prograde direction at a radial location that can be explained using the Stokes number. We also find that those captured into certain types of orbits can survive for a long period of time even under gas drag both in the prograde and retrograde cases, which may be important for the origin of irregular satellites of giant planets.

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