NUMERICALLY PREDICTED INDIRECT SIGNATURES OF TERRESTRIAL PLANET FORMATION

Abstract

The intermediate phases of planet formation are not directly observable due\nto lack of emission from planetesimals. Planet formation is, however, a\ndynamically active process resulting in collisions between the evolving\nplanetesimals and the production of dust. Thus, indirect observation of planet\nformation may indeed be possible in the near future. In this paper we present\nsynthetic observations based on numerical N-body simulations of the\nintermediate phase of planet formation including a state-of-the-art collision\nmodel, EDACM, which allows multiple collision outcomes, such as, accretion,\nerosion, and bouncing events. We show that the formation of planetary embryos\nmay be indirectly observable by a fully functioning ALMA telescope if the\nsurface area involved in planetesimal evolution is sufficiently large and/or\nthe amount of dust produced in the collisions is sufficiently high in mass.\n