U.S.-U.K. Collaborative Research: Origin of the Solar System

该奖项将支持加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的Douglas Lin博士与三名英国科学家：剑桥大学天文研究所的Sverre Aarseth博士，以及伦敦玛丽女王和韦斯特菲尔德学院数学科学学院的John Papaloizou和Philip Palmer博士在太阳系天文学方面的合作研究。该项目的目标是研究太阳星云环境中原地行星和原巨行星核的形成。具体任务是：1)建立小行星动力学分析模型，2)进行N体数值模拟，考察小行星的动力学演化和质量凝聚，3)研究流体阻力和潮汐相互作用对小行星和原行星动力学的影响，4)确定原行星对太阳星云结构和演化的动力学影响。这些理论研究将借助于研究人员最近开发的解析形式和数值格式来进行。太阳系探测和对年轻恒星周围原恒星圆盘的地面观测数据将用于约束理论模型。该项目将受益于调查人员的互补专业知识及其过去合作的成功历史。这项研究的结果将有助于理解太阳系的起源，这是天体物理和行星科学中最突出的问题之一。

This award will support collaborative research in solar system astronomy between Dr. Douglas Lin, University of California at Santa Cruz, and three British scientists: Dr. Sverre Aarseth, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, and Drs. John Papaloizou and Philip Palmer, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. The objective of the project is to investigate the formation of prototerrestrial planets and protogiant planetary cores in the solar nebula environment. The specific tasks are: 1) to develop an analytical model for the dynamics of planetesimals, 2) to carry out N-body numerical simulations to examine the dynamical evolution and mass coagulation of planetesimals, 3) to investigate the effects of hydrodynamic drag and tidal interaction on the dynamics of planetesimals and protoplanets, and 4) to determine the dynamical impact of protoplanets on the structure and evolutions of the solar nebula. These theoretical investigations will be carried out with the aid of analytic formalisms and numerical schemes recently developed by the investigators. Data from solar system exploration and ground based observations of protostellar disks around young stellar objects will be used to constrain theoretical models. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the investigators and their successful history of past collaboration. Results of this research will contribute to the understanding of the origin of the solar system, one of the most outstanding problems in astrophysics and planetary science.