SMACK: A New Algorithm for Modeling Collisions and Dynamics of Planetesimals in Debris Disks

Abstract

We present the Superparticle Model/Algorithm for Collisions in Kuiper belts and debris disks (SMACK), a new method for simultaneously modeling, in 3-D, the collisional and dynamical evolution of planetesimals in a debris disk with planets. SMACK can simulate azimuthal asymmetries and how these asymmetries evolve over time. We show that SMACK is stable to numerical viscosity and numerical heating over 10^7 yr, and that it can reproduce analytic models of disk evolution. We use SMACK to model the evolution of a debris ring containing a planet on an eccentric orbit. Differential precession creates a spiral structure as the ring evolves, but collisions subsequently break up the spiral, leaving a narrower eccentric ring.

14 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (8)

• Transience of hot dust around sun-like stars
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• Long-Term Collisional Evolution of Debris Disks
• STIS Imaging of the HR 4796A Circumstellar Debris Ring
• Discovery of extreme asymmetry in the debris disk surrounding HD 15115
• A representative particle approach to coagulation and fragmentation of dust aggregates and fluid droplets
• Collisional dust avalanches in debris discs
• Collisional Particle Disks

Cited by in corpus (28)

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• A gap in the planetesimal disc around HD 107146 and asymmetric warm dust emission revealed by ALMA
• A Primer on Unifying Debris Disk Morphologies
• ALMA observations of the debris disk around the young Solar Analog HD 107146
• Predictions for Shepherding Planets in Scattered Light Images of Debris Disks
• Gap Clearing by Planets in a Collisional Debris Disk
• Apocenter glow in eccentric debris disks: implications for Fomalhaut and epsilon Eridani
• The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Orbit of the Young Exoplanet beta Pictoris b
• Resolving faint structures in the debris disk around TWA7
• A SMACK Model of Colliding Planetesimals in the $\beta$ Pictoris Debris Disk
• Signatures of massive collisions in debris discs
• HD 106906: A Case Study for External Perturbations of a Debris Disk
• Circumstellar Debris Disks: Diagnosing the Unseen Perturber
• Variations on Debris Disks III. Collisional Cascades and Giant Impacts in the Terrestrial Zones of Solar-type Stars
• Constraining planetesimal stirring: how sharp are debris disc edges?
• The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Offset Ring of HR 4796 A
• Did Jupiter's core form in the innermost parts of the Sun's protoplanetary disk?
• Collisions and drag in debris discs with eccentric parent belts
• Oort cloud asteroids: Collisional evolution, the Nice Model, and the Grand Tack
• Transient events in bright debris discs: Collisional avalanches revisited
• Impact of planetesimal eccentricities and material strength on the appearance of eccentric debris disks
• Importance of Giant Impact Ejecta for Orbits of Planets Formed during the Giant Impact Era
• A particle-based hybrid code for planet formation
• Near-Infrared Image of the Debris Disk around HD 15115
• Formation History of HD106906 and the Vertical Warping of Debris Disks by an External Inclined Companion
• Twisted debris: how differential secular perturbations shape debris disks
• The impact of initial conditions in N-body simulations of debris discs