Terrestrial Planet Formation I. The Transition from Oligarchic Growth to Chaotic Growth

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0503568

From: Scott J. Kenyon [view email]

Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 22:08:58 GMT   (471kb)

We use a hybrid, multiannulus, n-body-coagulation code to investigate the
growth of km-sized planetesimals at 0.4-2 AU around a solar-type star. After a
short runaway growth phase, protoplanets with masses of roughly 10^26 g and
larger form throughout the grid. When (i) the mass in these `oligarchs’ is
roughly comparable to the mass in planetesimals and (ii) the surface density in
oligarchs exceeds 2-3 g/sq cm at 1 AU, chaotic interactions among oligarchs
produce a high merger rate which leads to the formation of several terrestrial
planets. In disks with lower surface density, milder interactions produce
several lower mass planets. In all disks, the planet formation timescale is
roughly 10-100 Myr, similar to estimates derived from the cratering record and
radiometric data.

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