Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
It is generally assumed that ejections from active cometary nuclei are the major source of replenishment of the interplanetary dust complex. Conjectures against this concept are usually based on comparison of the quantitative efficiency of the dust production by comets with the efficiency of all the dissipative processes involved. The present paper discusses this problem from the dynamical point of view, tracing the evolution of swarms of cometary ejecta as they pass through different evolutionary stages. It is concluded that the contribution of the present population of active comets, of all revolution periods, is not only inadequate to explain the abundance of interplanetary particles, but also inconsistent with the distribution of their orbits. Other potential sources and their implications for the equilibrium problem are reviewed.