Failed Oort Clouds and Planetary Migration

Abstract

Planet formation is accompanied by the formation of comet clouds. In systems where planets migrate on rapid timescales, the diffusive evolution of comet orbits may stall, resulting in a comet cloud intermediate between a flattened Kuiper Belt and a spherical Oort cloud. These `failed Oort clouds' may provide a `smoking gun', indicating that planetary migration has taken place. If some fraction of the scattered component consists of planetary embryos, it may be possible to observe transits of such bodies even when the planetary system is not edge-on to the line of sight.