Open AccessOn some aspects of the stirring rate of planetesimal velocities by a protoplanet
Author(s) -
Brunini Adrián,
Santamaría Pablo
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11805.x
Subject(s) - planetesimal , protoplanet , physics , accretion (finance) , swarm behaviour , planet , astrophysics , protoplanetary disk , mathematical optimization , mathematics
We discuss some aspects of the evolution of the relative velocities of a swarm of planetesimals stirred by a protoplanet. We show that the prescriptions most commonly used in semi‐analytical ‘oligarchic growth’ models overestimate the relative velocities of planetesimals by a non‐negligible factor. We discuss the probable origin of this discrepancy, proposing a correction factor that provides good agreement between these prescriptions and the results of numerical experiments. The proposed correction factor can be easily implemented in semi‐analytical accretion models.