Collisions Between Gravity-Dominated Bodies: 1. Outcome Regimes and Scaling Laws

Details Collisions Between Gravity-Dominated Bodies: 1. Outcome Regimes and Scaling Laws Collisions Between Gravity-Dominated Bodies: 1. Outcome Regimes and Scaling Laws

2011-06-29

arxiv.org/abs/1106.6084v3

2012 ApJ 745 79

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Version 3, accepted to ApJ in Nov. 2011 published online Dec. 2011. Abstract abridged

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/745/1/79

Collisions are the core agent of planet formation. In this work, we derive an analytic description of the dynamical outcome for any collision between gravity-dominated bodies. We conduct high-resolution simulations of collisions between planetesimals; the results are used to isolate the effects of different impact parameters on collision outcome. During growth from planetesimals to planets, collision outcomes span multiple regimes: cratering, merging, disruption, super-catastrophic disruption, and hit-and-run events. We derive equations (scaling laws) to demarcate the transition between collision regimes and to describe the size and velocity distributions of the post-collision bodies. The scaling laws are used to calculate maps of collision outcomes as a function of mass ratio, impact angle, and impact velocity, and we discuss the implications of the probability of each collision regime during planet formation. The analytic collision model presented in this work will significantly improve the physics of collisions in numerical simulations of planet formation and collisional evolution. (abstract abridged)

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