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Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Anders Johansen

Professor

Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Planetesimals on Eccentric Orbits Erode Rapidly

Author

  • Lukas Cedenblad
  • Noemi Schaffer
  • Anders Johansen
  • B. Mehlig
  • Dhrubaditya Mitra

Summary, in English

We investigate the possibility of erosion of planetesimals in a protoplanetary disk. We use theory and direct numerical simulations (lattice Boltzmann method) to calculate the erosion of large - much larger than the mean-free path of gas molecules - bodies of different shapes in flows. We find that erosion follows a universal power law in time, at intermediate times, independent of the Reynolds number of the flow and the initial shape of the body. Consequently, we estimate that planetesimals in eccentric orbits, of even very small eccentricity, rapidly (in about 100 yr) erodes away if the semimajor axis of their orbit lies in the inner disk - less than about 10 au. Even planetesimals in circular orbits erode away in approximately 10,000 yr if the semimajor axis of their orbits are 0.6 au.

Department/s

  • Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration

Publishing year

2021-11-10

Language

English

Publication/Series

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

921

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Astronomical Society

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0004-637X