Planetary Giant Impacts

Based on 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations performed with unprecedented high resolution, this book examines the giant impacts that dominate many planets' late accretion and evolution. The numerical methods developed are now publicly available, greatly facilitating future studies of planetary impacts in our solar system and exoplanetary systems.

The book focuses on four main topics: (1) The development of new methods to construct initial conditions as well as a hydrodynamical simulation code to evolve them, using 1000 times more simulation particles than the previous standard. (2) The numerical convergence of giant impact simulations -- standard-resolution simulations fail to converge on even bulk properties like the post-impact rotation period. (3) The collision thought to have knocked over the planet Uranus causing it to spin on its side. (4) The erosion of atmospheres by giant impacts onto terrestrial planets, and the first full 3D simulations ofcollisions in this regime.

Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by the Institute for Computational Cosmology and the Physics Department of Durham University, UK Presents new publicly available computational tools to simulate planetary giant impacts with Investigates in unprecedented detail the impact origin of planet Uranus' tilted spin as well as the other consequences of this violent event With striking color visualizations to illustrate the results Discusses the first full 3D simulations of atmospheric erosion by giant impacts onto terrestrial planets

Autorentext
Jacob Kegerreis obtained his Ph.D. in 2019 from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University, UK. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at the NASA Ames Research Centre, continuing work on simulations and consequences of giant impacts.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Methods.- Uranus Giant Impacts and Convergence.- Atmospheric Erosion.- The Lunar Argon Exosphere.- Conclusions.