The use of Trojan-type companions of Jupiter, Neptune, and Mars to help constrain models of the early evolution of the solar system. In particular, we study three distinct problems:
1) Consequences of Planetary Migration for Jupiter Trojans: Our preliminary modeling suggests that Jupiter's Trojan population would have been significantly depleted during the migration phase. We study this problem to determine the likely initial Jovian population of Trojans that is consistent with the final post-migration population seen today.
2) Migration-Induced Redistribution of Trojans (L4 to/from L5): Jupiter's current Trojan population is asymmetrical, with the ratio of leading L4 Trojans to trailing L5 Trojans running about 60/40. Our modeling shows that planetary migration is effective at redistributing Trojans between the L4 and L5 regions.
3) Trapping of Ex-Trojans in Outer Resonances with Neptune: Our modeling shows that a significant fraction of Neptune Trojans that escape the 1:1 resonance during the late stages of planetary migration can become permanently trapped in outer mean-motion resonances with Neptune. This effect may help explain the range of eccentricities and inclinations seen in the resonant population of trans-neptunian object such as the twotinos and plutinos.
We study a new resonant mechanism for capture of irregular satellites during the late stages of planetary migration. This capture mechanism involves an unusual 1:1 co-orbital resonance between the planet and the planetesimal to be captured. Our earlier published work showed that this resonant mechanism may have been important in the very early solar system when capture was aided by solar nebula gas drag. The same resonant mechanism was likely acting at much later times when the giant planets were in an advanced phase of scattering residual planetesimals and slowly migrating towards their final orbits. We are trying to determine whether this resonant mechanism of planetesimal capture during planetary migration can help account for the existence of numerous small irregular satellites orbiting all four of the giant planets. We also investigate whether this resonant mechanism played a role in the capture of Phobos and Deimos by Mars.
Nearly a quarter of all known extrasolar giant planets orbit stars that are members of mature binary or multiple-star systems. Observations of younger multiple-star systems indicate the presence of protoplanetary disks, both circumstellar and circumbinary. Because multiple-star systems are the most common outcome of the star formation process their demonstrated ability to host giant planets may dramatically influence the likelihood of finding terrestrial planets in nearby binary systems. I have published preliminary groundwork in this area (Kortenkamp et al., Science 293, 1127-1129, 2001) utilizing the traditional first-cut approach of studying the Jupiter-Sun "binary" system. My results suggest that Earth-like planets may form in much more compact binary systems than previously thought possible. I am now in the process of extending my modeling to true multiple-star systems. The predictions resulting from this work will be imminently testable as observational astronomers achieve the capability of detecting Earth-like planets around other stars.
Development of ray-tracing code for production of high-resolution animations for professional and educational purposes. To date this includes over 70 unique animations demonstrating concepts such as planet formation, planetary dynamics and historical experiments (e.g., Romer's speed-of-light observations).
Marzari, Thebault, Kortenkamp and Scholl, Dynamics and planet formation in/around binaries. To appear in Planets in Multiple-Star Systems (Haghighipour, ed.) Springer/Verlag (in press).
Kortenkamp S.J., Redistribution of Trojan asteroids between L4 and L5 induced by planetary migration. Is it symmetrical? abstract 60.07, 39th DPS meeting, Orlando, FL (2007).
Kortenkamp S.J., Weidenschilling, Marzari, Modeling planetesimal accretion in protoplanetary disks perturbed by massive companions, abstract 2283, 38th LPSC, Houston, TX (2007).
Kortenkamp S.J., Space Junk, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN (2008)
Kortenkamp S.J., Space Shuttles, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN (2008)
Kortenkamp S.J., Space Tourism, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN (2008)
Kortenkamp S.J., Working in Space, Capstone Press, Mankato, MN (2008)