The frozen Earth: Binary scattering events and the fate of the solar system

Planetary systems that encounter passing stars can experience severe orbita l disruption, and the efficiency of this process is enhanced when the impin ging systems are binary pairs rather than single stars. Using a Monte Carlo approach to perform more than 200,000 N-body integrations, we examine the ramifications of this scattering process for the long-term prospects of our own Solar System. After statistical processing of the results, we estimate an overall probability of order 2 x 10(-5) that Earth will find its orbit seriously disrupted prior to the emergence of a runaway greenhouse effect d riven by the Sun's increasing luminosity. This estimate includes both direc t disruption events and scattering processes that seriously alter the orbit s of the jovian planets, which force severe changes upon the Earth's orbit. Our set of scattering experiments gives a number of other results. For exa mple, there is about 1 chance in 2 million that Earth will be captured into orbit around another star before the onset of a runaway greenhouse effect. In addition, the odds of Neptune doubling its eccentricity are only one pa rt in several hundred. We then examine the consequences of Earth being thro wn into deep space. The surface biosphere would rapidly shut down under con ditions of zero insolation, but the Earth's radioactive heat is capable of maintaining life deep underground, and perhaps in hydrothermal vent communi ties, for some time to come. Although unlikely for Earth, this scenario may be common throughout the universe, since many environments where liquid wa ter could exist (e.g., Europa and Callisto) must derive their energy from i nternal (rather than external) heating. (C) 2000 Academic Press.