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Planetesimals on Eccentric Orbits Erode Rapidly

Cedenblad, Lukas ; Schaffer, Noemi LU orcid ; Johansen, Anders LU ; Mehlig, B. and Mitra, Dhrubaditya (2021) In Astrophysical Journal 921(2).
Abstract

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... (More)

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.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Astrophysical Journal
volume
921
issue
2
article number
123
publisher
American Astronomical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85120656777
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/ac1e88
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
id
99df4b2b-c341-4541-9934-842ac2668612
date added to LUP
2022-01-25 15:32:07
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:22:46
@article{99df4b2b-c341-4541-9934-842ac2668612,
  abstract     = {{<p>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.</p>}},
  author       = {{Cedenblad, Lukas and Schaffer, Noemi and Johansen, Anders and Mehlig, B. and Mitra, Dhrubaditya}},
  issn         = {{0004-637X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{American Astronomical Society}},
  series       = {{Astrophysical Journal}},
  title        = {{Planetesimals on Eccentric Orbits Erode Rapidly}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1e88}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/1538-4357/ac1e88}},
  volume       = {{921}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}