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Evolution of Planetesimals in Planetary Debris Disks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Scott J. Kenyon
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Benjamin C. Bromley
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Utah, 115 S 1400 E, Rm 201, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Abstract

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Dusty planetary disks can form quickly around young stars and linger, despite the depletion of dust through mechanisms such as Poynting-Robertson drag. Planetesimals in the disk can replenish the dust with an efficiency that depends on their mass and velocity distributions. Here, we describe a numerical program to track the evolution of planetesimals through merging, fragmentation and drag. Our current effort is focused on coupling a Fokker-Planck solver with N-body calculations to follow the detailed behavior of larger planetesimals. Our results demonstrate the importance of gravitational stirring in dust production. Furthermore, stirring by planets larger than Pluto can generate the large scale heights seen in several dusty disks.

Type
Posters
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 

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