On disc driven inward migration of resonantly coupled planets with application to the system around GJ876

Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS, UK

Corresponding author: M. D. Snellgrove, m.d.snellgrove@qmw.ac.uk

Received: 3 April 2001
Accepted: 28 May 2001

Abstract

We consider two protoplanets gravitationally interacting with each other and a protoplanetary disc. The two planets orbit interior to a tidally maintained disc cavity while the disc interaction induces inward migration. When the migration is slow enough, the more rapidly migrating outer protoplanet approaches and becomes locked in a 2:1 commensurability with the inner one. This is maintained in subsequent evolution. We study this evolution using a simple analytic model, full hydrodynamic 2D simulations of the disc planet system and longer time N-body integrations incorporating simple prescriptions for the effects of the disc on the planet orbits. The eccentricities of the protoplanets are found to be determined by the migration rate and circularization rate induced in the outer planet orbit by the external disc. We apply our results to the recently discovered resonant planets around GJ876. Simulation shows that a disc with parameters expected for protoplanetary discs causes trapping in the 2:1 commensurability when the planets orbit in an inner cavity and that eccentricities in the observed range may be obtained.