Stability of Neptune's distant resonances in the presence of Planet Nine.

2021
Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) in the scattered disk with 50 250 au and detached perihelia seem to exist in a regime where they are too distant to be affected by the giant planets, and too close for their dynamics to be governed by external forces. Recent work suggests that the apparent alignment of these orbits in physical space is a signature of gravitational shepherding by a distant massive planet. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of TNOs in each of Neptune's n:1 resonances between the 3:1 and 14:1. We conclude that both resonant and non-resonant objects beyond the 12:1 near ~157 au are removed rather efficiently via perturbations from the hypothetical Planet Nine. Additionally, we uncover a population of simulated TNOs with a 100 au and identify several TNOs that are potentially locked in n:1 resonances with Neptune; including the most distant known resonant candidates 2014 JW80 and 2014 OS394 that appear to be in the 10:1 and 11:1 resonances, respectively. Our results suggest that the detection of similar remote objects might provide a useful constraint on hypotheses invoking the existence of additional distant planets.
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