Survival of Trojan-Type Companions of Neptune During Primordial Planet Migration

We investigate the survivability of Trojan-type companions of Neptune during primordial radial migration of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Loss of Neptune Trojans during planetary migration is not a random diffusion process. Rather, losses occur almost exclusively during discrete episodes when Trojan particles are swept by secondary resonances associated with mean-motion commensurabilities of Uranus with Neptune. The single greatest episode of loss ejects nearly 75% of existing Neptune Trojans and occurs just prior to Neptune reaching its final orbit.