Linking the formation and fate of exo-Kuiper belts within solar system
  analogues
  Escalating observations of exo-minor planets and their destroyed remnants
both passing through the solar system and within white dwarf planetary systems
motivate an understanding of the orbital history and fate of exo-Kuiper belts
and planetesimal discs. Here we explore how the structure of a 40-1000 au
annulus of planetesimals orbiting inside of a solar system analogue that is
itself initially embedded within a stellar cluster environment varies as the
star evolves through all of its stellar phases. We attempt this computationally
challenging link in four parts: (1) by performing stellar cluster simulations
lasting 100 Myr, (2) by making assumptions about the subsequent quiescent 11
Gyr main-sequence evolution, (3) by performing simulations throughout the giant
branch phases of evolution, and (4) by making assumptions about the belt's
evolution during the white dwarf phase. Throughout these stages, we estimate
the planetesimals' gravitational responses to analogues of the four solar
system giant planets, as well as to collisional grinding, Galactic tides,
stellar flybys, and stellar radiation. We find that the imprint of stellar
cluster dynamics on the architecture of $\gtrsim 100$ km-sized exo-Kuiper belt
planetesimals is retained throughout all phases of stellar evolution unless
violent gravitational instabilities are triggered either (1) amongst the giant
planets, or (2) due to a close ($\ll 10^3$ au) stellar flyby. In the absence of
these instabilities, these minor planets simply double their semimajor axis
while retaining their primordial post-cluster eccentricity and inclination
distributions, with implications for the free-floating planetesimal population
and metal-polluted white dwarfs.
