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The presence of highly siderophile elements in Earth's mantle indicates that a small percentage of Earth's mass was delivered after the last giant impact in a stage of 'late accretion.' There is ongoing debate about the nature of…
Transit timing variations - deviations from strict periodicity between successive passages of a transiting planet - can be used to probe the structure and dynamics of multiple-planet systems. In this paper, we examine prospects for…
A giant impact has been proposed as a possible formation mechanism for Jupiter's dilute core -- the planet's inferred internal structure in which the transition between its core of heavy elements and its predominantly hydrogen-helium…
In the leading theory of lunar formation, known as the giant impact hypothesis, a collision between two planet-size objects resulted in a young Earth surrounded by a circumplanetary debris disk from which the Moon later accreted. The range…
Stars are commonly formed in binary systems, which provide a natural laboratory for studying planet formation in extreme conditions. In our first paper (Paper I) of a series Xie et al. (2011), we have shown that the intermediate stage -…
We show that short-term perturbations among massive planets in multiple planet systems can result in radial velocity variations of the central star which differ substantially from velocity variations derived assuming the planets are…
There are two popular ways to speed up simulations of planet formation via increasing the collision probability: ({\it i}) confine motion to 2D, ({\it ii}) artificially enhance the physical radii of the bodies by an expansion factor. In…
The abundances of elements in the Earth and the terrestrial planets provide the initial conditions for life and clues as to the history and formation of the Solar System. We follow the pioneering work of Bond et al. (2010) and combine…
The architecture and masses of planetary systems in the habitable zone could be strongly influenced by outer giant planets, if present. We investigate here the impact of outer giants on terrestrial planet formation, under the assumption…
During accretion, terrestrial bodies attain a wide range of thermal and rotational states, which are accompanied by significant changes in physical structure (size, shape, pressure and temperature profile, etc.). However, variations in…
A 3D Cellular Automaton model developed by the authors to deal with the dynamics of N-body interactions has been adapted to investigate the head-on collision of two identical bound clusters of particles, and the ensuing process of…
The intermediate phases of planet formation are not directly observable due to lack of emission from planetesimals. Planet formation is, however, a dynamically active process resulting in collisions between the evolving planetesimals and…
In the standard model of terrestrial planet formation, planets are formed through giant impacts of planetary embryos after the dispersal of the protoplanetary gas disc. Traditionally, $N$-body simulations have been used to investigate this…
The gap between two component debris disks is often taken to be carved by intervening planets scattering away the remnant planetesimals. We employ N-body simulations to determine how the time needed to clear the gap depends on the location…
We present a new C++ code for collisional N-body simulations of star clusters. The code uses the Hermite fourth-order scheme with block time steps, for advancing the particles in time, while the forces and neighboring particles are computed…
In the standard scenario of planet formation, terrestrial planets and the cores of the giant planets are formed by accretion of planetesimals. As planetary embryos grow the planetesimal velocity dispersion increases due to gravitational…
In the standard scenario of planet formation, terrestrial planets, ice giants, and cores of gas giants are formed by the accumulation of planetesimals. However, there are few N-body simulation studies of planetesimal accretion that…
Impact-induced erosion of the Earth's early crust during accretion of terrestrial bodies can significantly modify the primordial chemical composition of the Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE, that is, the composition of the crust added to the…
As part of a national scientific network 'Pathways to Habitability' the formation of planets and the delivery of water onto these planets is a key question as water is essential for the development of life. In the first part of the paper we…
The final orbital configuration of a planetary system is shaped by both its early star-disk environment and late-stage gravitational interactions. Assessing the relative importance of each of these factors is not straightforward due to the…