Title: Circularizing Planet Nine through dynamical friction with an extended, cold planetesimal belt,
Abstract: Unexpected clustering in the orbital elements of minor bodies beyond the
Kuiper belt has led to speculations that our solar system actually hosts nine
planets, the eight established plus a hypothetical "Planet Nine". Several
recent studies have shown that a planet with a mass of about 10 Earth masses on
a distant eccentric orbit with perihelion far beyond the Kuiper belt could
create and maintain this clustering. The evolutionary path resulting in an
orbit such as the one suggested for Planet Nine is nevertheless not easily
explained. Here we investigate whether a planet scattered away from the
giant-planet region could be lifted to an orbit similar to the one suggested
for Planet Nine through dynamical friction with a cold, distant planetesimal
belt. Recent simulations of planetesimal formation via the streaming
instability suggest that planetesimals can readily form beyond 100au. We
explore this circularisation by dynamical friction with a set of numerical
simulations. We find that a planet that is scattered from the region close to
Neptune onto an eccentric orbit has a 20-30% chance of obtaining an orbit
similar to that of Planet Nine after 4.6Gyr. Our simulations also result in
strong or partial clustering of the planetesimals; however, whether or not this
clustering is observable depends on the location of the inner edge of the
planetesimal belt. If the inner edge is located at 200au the degree of
clustering amongst observable objects is significant.