University of Heidelberg

Talk Details

Monday, April 16, 2012 - 11:00am

Fredrik Windmark:

"Planetesimal formation by sweep-up"

Abstract. The formation of planetesimals is often accredited to collisional sticking of dust grains. The exact process is however unknown, as collisions between larger aggregates tend to lead to fragmentation or bouncing rather than sticking. To study this, we have created a new dust collision model based on the latest laboratory experiments, and have used it together with a dust-size evolution code capable of resolving all grain interactions in the protoplanetary disk. We find that for the general dust population, bouncing collisions prevent the growth above millimeter-sizes. However, if a small number of cm-sized particles are introduced, they can act as a catalyst and start to sweep up the smaller particles. At a distance of 3 AU, 100-meter-sized bodies are formed on a timescale of 1 Myr. The bouncing barrier is here even beneficial, as it prevents the growth of too many large particles that would otherwise only fragment among each other, and creates a reservoir of small particles that can be swept up by larger bodies.

Responsible: , last modification Apr/05/2013 11:50 CEST
zum Seitenanfang