MODELLING PLANETESIMAL INTERACTIONS DURING MID-STAGE
EVOLUTION OF THE PORTOPLANETARY CLOUD
by Matthew J. Murdock
M.S. Thesis in Physics
Miami University
August 1995
A model is presented that simulates the mid--stage formation
of a solar system of planets. In this stage, the solar nebular cloud
is composed of planetesimals that are initially solid bodies 1-10 km in size.
These planetesimals interact gravitationally and coalesce to form protoplanets that
are lunar size bodies
with masses on the the order of 10**25 g. The theoretical model used
in this study consists of treating the planetesimal
cloud using the statistical techniques of kinetic theory where the planetesimals
take on the role of gas molecules. The computational algorithm incorporates
this kinetic approach to model the velocity evolution of the planetesimals
and the two--body approximation to account for mass growth.
The results of several simulations
run in the vicinity of 1 A.U. are reported and discussed. These primarily attempt to duplicate the
work of previous authors to verify the algorithm.
For most of these, qualitative agreement is achieved; however, the case of
runaway growth, where one body separates from the distribution and rapidly
acquires most of the mass, is not realized. This presents the possibility that this
technique as is widely utilized is incapable of generating runaway growth of
a planetary embryo.
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