Exoplanets and debris disks show that planetary systems are fairly common.
My work with
Ben Bromley
(Univ of Utah) involves computer calculations of planet formation
applied to our solar system and other planetary systems. Our goal
is to simulate the formation of planets like the Earth, Jupiter,
and Pluto on a high-speed computer and then to compare the results
of the simulation with observations.
To make our simulations, we built a sophisticated
hybrid computer code that
combines a coagulation algorithm with an n-body code.
We are applying the code to understand planet formation in a variety
of circumstances. The links describe some of our ongoing projects.
Background
Discovery
Formation
Sedna
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