Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks II. Embedded Planets - Animations
S. Kenyon (SAO) & B. Bromley (Univ Utah)
We investigate the growth of icy planets in a circumstellar disk
The central star has a mass of 3 MSun
The disk extends from 35 AU to 150 AU
The disk contains 100 MEarth in 1 m to 1 km planetesimals
The goal is to model images and spectra of debris disks
Planetesimals collide and merge to form planets
As planets grow, their gravity stirs up leftover planetesimals
Collisions between rapidly moving planetesimals produce dust
The dust reflects light from central star and is visible from Earth
The animations show the time variation of the dust surface brightness
Animation #1 - Formation of Bright Rings
Planet formation starts at the inner edge of the disk
As time goes on, planets form farther out in the disk
Bright rings of dust form where planets have radii of 1000 km or larger
The rings are not opaque
The bright ring tracks the outward propagation of planet formation
The still image shows six snapshots of the disk
Click on the image to see the animation
Animation #2 - Formation of Dark Gaps
When planetesimals have small tensile strength, they fragment easily
Planet formation then yields a large fragmentation rate
The large fragmentation rate produces a bright, opaque ring of dust
The bright ring shadows the outer disk, producing a dark ring outside it
As time goes on, planets form farther out in the disk
The bright and dark rings track the outward progress of planet formation
The still image shows six snapshots of the disk
Click on the image to see the animation
