Small‐N collisional dynamics: pushing into the realm of not‐so‐small N
Small‐N collisional dynamics: pushing into the realm of not‐so‐small N
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小 N 碰撞动力学：进入不那么小 N 的领域
DOI：
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21689.x
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
A. Geller
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
N. Leigh;A. Geller
在本文中，我们研究涉及最多六个物体的小 N 引力动力学。我们进行了大量涉及单星、双星和三合星的数值散射实验。这是使用 FEWBODY 数字散射代码完成的，我们已对其进行升级以处理涉及三星的遭遇。我们关注的是在低角动量和高绝对轨道能量范围内导致恒星之间直接物理碰撞的结果。对于固定的总能量和角动量，发现碰撞概率与参与相互作用的物体数量 N 的相关性。我们的结果与大约随着 N 2 增加的碰撞概率一致。有趣的是，这也是在 N 非常大的限制下平均自由程近似所期望的结果。在未来的研究中需要对参数空间进行更彻底的探索，以充分探索这种潜在的有趣联系。这项研究是我们不断努力的第一步，旨在将我们对小 N 碰撞动力学的理解扩展到三体和四体问题之外，进入大 N 领域。
In this paper, we study small-N gravitational dynamics involving up to six objects. We perform a large suite of numerical scattering experiments involving single, binary, and triple stars. This is done using the FEWBODY numerical scattering code, which we have upgraded to treat encounters involving triple stars. We focus on outcomes that result in direct physical collisions between stars, within the low angular momentum and high absolute orbital energy regime. The dependence of the collision probability on the number of objects involved in the interaction, N, is found for fixed total energy and angular momentum. Our results are consistent with a collision probability that increases approximately as N 2 . Interestingly, this is also what is expected from the mean free path approximation in the limit of very large N. A more thorough exploration of parameter space will be required in future studies to fully explore this potentially intriguing connection. This study is meant as a first step in an on-going effort to extend our understanding of small-N collisional dynamics beyond the threeand four-body problems and into the realm of larger-N.