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Numerical Experiments on the Motion of the Outer Planets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Gerald D. Quinlan
Gerald D. Quinlan*
Affiliation:
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto

Abstract

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We have integrated the motion of the four Jovian planets on Myr timescales in fictitious solar systems in which the orbits differ from those of the real solar system. A change of ≲1% in the major axis of any one of the planets from its real value can lead to chaotic motion with a Lyapunov exponent larger than 10-5 yr−1. A survey of fifty solar systems with initial conditions chosen at random from a reasonable probability distribution shows the majority of them to be chaotic.

Keywords

Celestial MechanicsChaotic DynamicsSolar System

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