Formation of the resonant populations in the Kuiper belt: gas-drag-induced resonant capture

Abstract

On the basis of their orbital elements, present‐day Kuiper belt objects can be grouped into distinct dynamical classes: classical, resonant and scattered ones. Jiang & Yeh have proposed gas‐drag‐induced resonant capture in a protostellar disc analogous to the primordial solar nebula as a mechanism able to explain the dominant 3:2 resonant population observed in Kuiper belt objects. de la Fuente Marcos & de la Fuente Marcos further investigated the drag‐induced mechanism numerically. Our significant contribution is a hydrodynamic theory derivation of results obtained in the Jiang & Yeh and de la Fuente Marcos & de la Fuente Marcos numerical simulations.