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E. W. Thommes

Publications and source records attributed to E. W. Thommes.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Dynamical Shakeup of Planetary Systems II. N-body simulations of Solar System terrestrial planet formation induced by secular resonance sweeping

We revisit the "dynamical shakeup" model of Solar System terrestrial planet formation, wherein the whole process is driven by the sweeping of Jupiter's secular resonance as the gas disk is removed. Using a large number of 0.5 Gyr-long N-body simulations, we investigate the different outcomes produced by such a scenario. We confirm that in contrast to existing models, secular resonance sweeping combined with tidal damping by the disk gas can reproduce the low eccentricities and inclinations, and high radial mass concentration, of the Solar System terrestrial planets. At the same time, this also drives the final assemblage of the planets on a timescale of several tens of millions of years, an order of magnitude faster than inferred from previous numerical simulations which neglected these effects, but possibly in better agreement with timescales inferred from cosmochemical data. In addition, we find that significant delivery of water-rich material from the outer Asteroid Belt is a natural byproduct.

astro-ph

Overcoming migration during giant planet formation

In the core accretion model, gas giant formation is a race between growth and migration; for a core to become a jovian planet, it must accrete its envelope before it spirals into the host star. We use a multizone numerical model to extend our previous investigation of the "window of opportunity" for gas giant formation within a disk. When the collision cross-section enhancement due to core atmospheres is taken into account, we find that a broad range of protoplanetary disks posses such a window.

astro-ph