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Terrestrial Planet Growth in Circumbinary DisksWe examine the accu~ulation of terrestrial from circumbinary disks surrounding pairs of stars with masses of either 0.5 solar masses each or 0.8 and 0.2 solar masses and orbital separations of 0.05 AU to 0.4 AU by performing numerical simulations of the late stages of planetary growth. Initial disks contain about 2.6 Earth masses of lunar to Mars-sized bodies orbiting within 2 AU of the center of mass of the system, plus giant planets with masses and orbits analogous to those of Jupiter and Saturn. We also performed simulations using analogous disks orbiting single 1 solar mass stars. The dynamics of planetary growth is quite chaotic because the gravitational perturbations resulting from close approaches greatly amplify differences in orbits. Thus, several simulations of each configuration were run with very slightly different initial conditions to enable us to distinguish systematic effects resulting from differences in the binary orbit (or differences of the initial orbits of the bodies within the disk) from pseudo-random variability in outcomes resulting from chaos. Most runs simulated 200 million years of evolution. At least one terrestrial planet remained at the end of each run; one simulation produced 6 terrestrial planets in a configuration that appears to be quite stable. The systems that formed around stars with binary apastron separations of less than 0.2 AU contained on average slightly more planets than those that formed around single stars, with the outermost planet typically orbiting at a greater distance from the system barycenter. Greater stellar separations tended to result in fewer planets, with the inner planet orbiting farther from the stars. More eccentric binaries have a more pronounced effect for the same apastron distance. The statistical distribution of final systems is not sensitive to moderate differences in the initial eccentricities of the bodies in the disk.
Document ID
20060054000
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Lissauer, J. J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Quintana, E. V.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 073-02-01-01-12
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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