MUNA Lunch Talk:

Rudolf Dvorak

University of Vienna

Water transport in the early planetary system

May 5

12:10PM, Room 230, NRAO, Edgemont Road

Abstract:

For an estimate of water transport in the early planetary system we investigate the degree of possible water delivery by means of asteroid collisions. Here we present a study of the distribution of impact velocities and angles of small bodies with a certain water content and initial mass of a tenth lunar mass that are distributed on orbits with semimajor axes between 1 and 2 AU, small eccentricities e <= 0.15 and small inclinations. The bodies' initial water (ice) content increases with their distance to the Sun from 0.5 wt% to 1 wt%. By simulating mutual collisions via n-body calculations we trace how the masses and water contents of those bodies evolve depending on the presence of a perturbing Jupiter-like planet in different distances. We find that within 1 Myr the masses of the bodies increase up to one lunar mass and the inclination-distribution is widened while the water content closer to the Sun tends to increase from inward scattered objects. We also present means of verification of our present perfect merging assumption via simulating the collision processes using Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH).