Abstract:

We studied the complicated dynamics of two separate gravitational N -body systems to gain insight regarding the evolution and structure of our Solar system and Galaxy. The two scenarios investigated were; (1) a three-body interaction of two ~ 103 M[Special characters omitted.] black holes orbiting a ~ 106 M[Special characters omitted.] black hole comparable to the one at the center of our Galaxy and (2) the collisional capture of 1 - 10 km radius "small bodies" around the gas giant planets of our Solar system.

The three-body simulations where focused on understanding the fates of intermediate mass black holes (IBHs) that drift within the central 0.5 pc of the Galaxy. In particular, we modeled the interactions between pairs of ~ 103 M[Special characters omitted.] black holes as they orbit a central black hole (CBH) of mass ~ 10 6 M[Special characters omitted.] . The simulations performed used the post-Newtonian approximation consistent with [GNH06] to account for gravitational radiation as well as other relativistic effects and Chandrasekhar dynamical friction. We found the branching ratio for one of the orbiting IBHs to merge with the CBH was 0.95 ? 0.04 and is independent of the inner IBH's initial eccentricity as well as the rate of sinking. This coupled with an infall rate of ~ 107 yrs for an IBH to drift into the Galactic center, results in an IBH-CBH merger every [Special characters omitted.] 11 Myr.

The feasibility of the collisional capture of "small bodies", or irregular satellites, around the Jovian planets investigated to determine if the minimum mass Solar nebula (MMSN) was dense enough to support such collisions. We found that the collisional rates around these planets is [Special characters omitted.] 10-3 Myr-1 for small bodies with a 10 km radius. Additionally, restrictions on collisional energy, as well as the energy of the remnants, show that 0.20 ? 0.03 of these collisions remain bound to the planet on stable orbits (i.e. don't crash into the planet and are within the Hill sphere). Further calculations revealed that a Solar Nebula whose rocky material consisted of small bodies with a 5 km radius during the clean-up stage would produce a bound collision rate of ~ 0.015 Myr-1 , which is comparable to what is currently observed for Jupiter.