The accumulation and structure of comets

Abstract

The paper reviews evidence for the accumulation of the terrestrial planets and comets from solid grains, with emphasis on the various proposals for the formation of cometary nuclei. With three exceptions, all hypotheses conclude or imply that a single compact object forms. Several hypotheses start with Goldreich-Ward-type gravitational instabilities. The collapse for this case also occurs at low velocities in the cm/s to m/s range. Experiment and theory show that under these conditions, low-density, filamentary clusters form that are fractal aggregates with a fractal dimension approximately equal to 2. In order to form cometary nuclei, the initial temperature must be about 50 K and not undergo a significant temperature rise during the accumulation process. The calculations show that accumulation will occur at low temperatures. Models of cometary nuclei are reviewed, and a simple model of the structure that results fom the accumulation of fluffy aggregates is described.