A fairy tale about the formation of Uranus and Neptune and the lunar late heavy bombardment

摘要

It has recently been shown that the standard model for the formation of Uranus and Neptune cannot construct these planets at their current locations. Here we build on a recent model in which Uranus and Neptune form between Jupiter and Saturn. In our new 'fairy tale', the dynamical upheaval that transported the ice giants to their current locations triggered the lunar late heavy bombardment. This scenario also provides a natural explanation for the compositional differences between the ice giants and the gas giants.