Stripping of satellites on prograde and retrograde orbits

The Ratio of Retrograde to Prograde Orbits: A Test for Kuiper Belt Binary Formation Theories

With the discovery of Kuiper Belt binaries that have wide separations and roughly equal masses new theories were proposed to explain their formation. Two formation scenarios were suggested by Goldreich and collaborators: In the first, dynamical friction that is generated by a sea of small bodies enables a transient binary to become bound (Ls mechanism); in the second, a transient binary gets bo...

The tidal stripping of satellites

We present an improved analytic calculation for the tidal radius of satellites and test our results against N-body simulations. The tidal radius in general depends upon four factors: the potential of the host galaxy, the potential of the satellite, the orbit of the satellite and, which is new to this paper, the orbit of the star within the satellite. We demonstrate that this last point is criti...

Orbital phasing of satellites on circular orbits

The Ratio of Retrograde to Prograde Orbits: A Unique Way to test Kuiper Belt Binary Formation Theories

With the discovery of Kuiper Belt binaries that have wide separations and roughly equal masses new theories were proposed to explain their formation. Two formation scenarios were suggested by Goldreich and collaborators: In the first, dynamical friction that is generated by the sea of small bodies enables a transient binary to become bound (Ls mechanism); in the second, a transient binary gets ...

Retrograde versus Prograde Models of Accreting Black Holes