TAPIR Seminar

Disks of eccentric orbits undergo rich gravitational dynamics not available to their circular counterparts. I will discuss implications ranging from the Solar System to stars orbiting supermassive black holes. In particular, I will show how eccentric orbit dynamics may naturally reproduce the signatures in the outer Solar System which have been attributed to a hypothetical "planet 9". I will also show how eccentric orbit dynamics stabilize the lopsided nuclei sometimes found in massive galaxies; the dynamics may also dramatically enhance the rate of tidal disruption events, possibly explaining their observed preference for recent- and post-merger galaxies.