Interplanetary dust consists of small solid particles orbiting within a planetary system and responding to gravity, radiation, plasma, and collisions.
The radiation-pressure coefficient is the ratio of outward stellar radiation pressure to inward stellar gravity on a dust grain. The grain therefore feels effective gravitational parameter .
Poynting–Robertson drag is the tangential component of stellar radiation force caused by aberration in an orbiting dust grain's frame. It removes orbital energy and angular momentum and drives the grain inward.
During inward migration, dust can be captured into an exterior mean-motion resonance with a planet. A phase-shifted conjunction then lets planetary torque replace angular momentum lost to Poynting–Robertson drag.
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