Title:	Planetesimal formation by collisions of inertial particles with irregular solid bodies
DNr:	SNIC 2020/5-471
Project Type:	SNIC Medium Compute
Principal Investigator:	John Wettlaufer <john.wettlaufer@su.se>
Affiliation:	Stockholms universitet
Duration:	2020-10-01 – 2021-10-01
Classification:	10305
Homepage:	https://www.nordita.org
Keywords:

Abstract

We wish to study the formation of planetesimals by the collisional fusion of dust and rock in protoplanetary nebulae. The study involves the fluid mechanics of a few large bodies (rocks) ‘collecting’ smaller particles (dust). The kinetic energy of the collision, converted into heat, melts the surface layers of the dust particles which can then fuse with the rocks. A theoretical treatment of this process was written down, and the first numerical study testing the theory performed, in the group (Wettlaufer (ApJ 2010); Mitra, Wettlaufer, Brandenburg (ApJ 2013)). The latter work was done using an immersed boundary method in two dimensions, with point-particles tracked in a Lagrangian sense representing the dust. Our goal is to extend the study to three dimensions, which will allow the tumbling of the solid bodies.