Collisional Particle Disks

Abstract

We present a new, simple, fast algorithm to numerically evolve disks of inelastically colliding particles surrounding a central star. Our algorithm adds negligible computational cost to the fastest existing collisionless N-body codes, and can be used to simulate, for the first time, the interaction of planets with disks over many viscous times. Though the algorithm is implemented in two dimensions-i.e., the motions of bodies need only be tracked in a plane-it captures the behavior of fully three-dimensional disks in which collisions maintain inclinations that are comparable to random eccentricities. We subject the algorithm to a battery of tests for the case of an isolated, narrow, circular ring. Numerical simulations agree with analytic theory with regards to how particles' random velocities equilibrate; how the ring viscously spreads; and how energy dissipation, angular momentum transport, and material transport are connected. We derive and measure the critical value of the coefficient of restitution above which viscous stirring dominates inelastic damping and the particles' velocity dispersion runs away.

Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• Eccentricity Evolution for Planets in Gaseous Disks
• Planet Formation by Coagulation: A Focus on Uranus and Neptune
• Oligarchic growth of giant planets
• Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Narrow Planetary Rings

Cited by in corpus (17)

• REBOUND: An open-source multi-purpose N-body code for collisional dynamics
• Particle Stirring in Turbulent Gas Disks: Including Orbital Oscillations
• Protoplanetary Disk Turbulence Driven by the Streaming Instability: Linear Evolution and Numerical Methods
• Fomalhaut's Debris Disk and Planet: Constraining the Mass of Fomalhaut b From Disk Morphology
• Adding particle collisions to the formation of asteroids and Kuiper belt objects via streaming instabilities
• High-resolution simulations of planetesimal formation in turbulent protoplanetary discs
• The Formation of Ice Giants in a Packed Oligarchy: Instability and Aftermath
• Against all odds? Forming the planet of the HD196885 binary
• Planet formation in Alpha Centauri A revisited: not so accretion-friendly after all
• SMACK: A New Algorithm for Modeling Collisions and Dynamics of Planetesimals in Debris Disks
• LIDT-DD: A new self-consistent debris disc model including radiation pressure and coupling collisional and dynamical evolution
• Bringing "The Moth" to Light: A Planet-Sculpting Scenario for the HD 61005 Debris Disk
• The Validity of the Super-Particle Approximation during Planetesimal Formation
• Small-N collisional dynamics III: The battle for the realm of not-so-small-N
• Small-N collisional dynamics IV: Order in the realm of not-so-small-N
• Diffusive low optical depth particle disks truncated by planets
• Collisional damping in debris discs: Only significant if collision velocities are low