Late-stage accretion of the terrestrial planets

Details Late-stage accretion of the terrestrial planets Late-stage accretion of the terrestrial planets

Aug 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002phdt.........7a&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PhD). UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER, Source DAI-B 63/02, p. 835, Aug 2002, 144 pages.

Computer Science

Scientific paper

I have studied late stage accretion of the terrestrial planets using both analytic and numerical methods, modeling terrestrial planet accretion from a system of planetary embryos using three-dimensional N-body integrations. The simulations are generally successful in producing 1 2 large terrestrial planets (similar to Earth and Venus) and are usually accompanied by a smaller planet. Despite the general successes of the model, simulations of the late stage performed under a broad range of conditions tend to produce large terrestrial planets with eccentricities 2 5 times greater than those of Earth or Venus. My results show that the spin angular momentum states of the planets produced are generally the result of contributions made by the last few large impacts. This suggests that the current angular momentum of the Earth/Moon system may be the result of more than one large impact rather than a single impact. These results also suggest that the proto-Earth may have been rotating rapidly prior to the Moon-forming impact event. I have also examined the damping of terrestrial planet eccentricities via density wave interactions with a remnant gas disk that post-dated the accretionary epoch. My results suggest that the terrestrial planet eccentricities could be reduced from values permitting crossing orbits to the present day values by a remnant disk with gas surface densities of ˜10-3 10 -1 times the minimum mass solar nebula value and characteristic dissipation timescales of 106 107 years.

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