On the migration of a system of protoplanets

The evolution of a system consisting of a protoplanetary disc with two embedded Jupiter sized planets is studied numerically. The disc is assumed to be flat and nonself gravitating, which is modeled by the planar (two-dimensional) Navier-Stokes equations. The mutual gravitational interaction of the planets and the star, and the gravitational torques of the disc acting on the planets and the central star are included. The planets have an initial mass of one Jupiter mass MJup each and the radial distances from the star are one and two semi-major axis of Jupiter, respectively. During the evolution both planets increase their mass due to accretion of gas from the disc; after about 2500 orbital periods of the inner planet it has reached a mass of 2.3 and the outer planet of 3.2 MJup. The net gravitational torques exerted by the disc on the planets result in an inward migration of the outer planet on time-scales comparable to the viscous evolution time of the disc, while the semi-major axis of the inner planet remains constant. When the distance of close approach eventually becomes smaller than their mutual Hill radius the eccentricities increase strongly and the system may turn unstable. The implications for the origin of the solar system and the extrasolar planets are discussed.