Full Citation
Title: The Role of Giant Impacts in Planet Formation and Internal Structure
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2011
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Abstract: This dissertation presents studies of collisions between bodies ranging in size from hundreds of kilometers up to the largest expected Earth-like planets (super-Earths), with applications to the formation of the solar system and extra-solar planetary systems. The first half of the dissertation focuses on giant impacts, a key physical process in the late stage of terrestrial planet formation. Chapter 2 describes the simulation code employed throughout the work (GADGET2)—including some testing and benchmarking—and uses this code to derive scaling laws for giant impacts between bodies of terrestrial composition. Chapter 3 combines these scaling laws with simple dynamical arguments to make a prediction for the maximum possible collisional mantle stripping for Earth-like planets, and the corresponding minimum radius as a function of mass. Chapter 4 extends these collisional scaling laws to bodies of icy-rocky composition and presents a general model for the collisional erosion of differentiated bodies. Chapter 5 focuses on the prospects of identifying collisional families in the Kuiper belt, concluding that families should be numerous and that future surveys (e.g., LSST) should be capable of identifying families with progenitors of radius [special characters omitted] 250 km. Appendix A presents a detailed model for the formation of the Kuiper belt's only currently known collisional family, which exists around the fourth largest known Kuiper belt object (KBO), Haumea. In this model, the family formed from a low-speed, grazing collision between the proto-Haumea and an equal-sized projectile in a novel impact scenario termed a "graze-and-merge."
Url: https://search.proquest.com/docview/879049245/abstract/8569841375514A2FPQ/1?accountid=14586
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Authors: Marcus, Robert, A
Institution: Harvard University
Department: Astronomy
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Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
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Pages: 184
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Other
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