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Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences (1991)

Chapter: 9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies

« Previous: 8. Formation of the Terrestrial Planets from Planetesimals
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
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Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
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Page 117
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
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Page 118
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 119
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 120
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 121
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 122
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 123
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 124
Suggested Citation:"9. The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies." National Academy of Sciences. 1991. Planetary Sciences: American and Soviet Research/Proceedings from the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Workshop on Planetary Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1790.
×
Page 125

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The Rate of Planet Formation and the Solar System's Small Bodies VIKTO R S . SAFRO NOV Schmidt Institute of the Physics of the Earth ABSTRACT The evolution of random velocities and the mass distribution of pre- planetary body at the early stage of accumulation are currently under review. Arguments have been presented for and against the view of an extremely rapid, runaway growth of the largest bodies at this stage with parameter values of ~ ~ 103. Difficulties are encountered assuming such a large O: (a) bodies of the Jovian zone penetrate the asteroid zone too late and do not have time to hinder the formation of a normal-sized planet in the astroidal zone and thereby remove a significant portion of the mass of solid matter and (b) Uranus and Neptune cannot eject bodies from the solar system into the cometary cloud. Therefore, the values (9 ~ 102 appear to be preferable. INTRODUCTION By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ligondes, Chamberlain, and Multan had suggested the idea of planet formation via the combining (accumulation) of solid particles and bodies. However, it long remained forgotten. It was only by the 1940s that this idea was revived by O.Yu. Schmidt, the outstanding Soviet scientist and academician (1944, 1957~. He initiated a systematic study of this problem and laid the groundwork for contemporary planet formation theory. He also suggested the first formula for the rate of mass increase of a planet which is absorbing all the bodies colliding with it. After it was amended and added to, this formula took on its present form (Safronov 1954, 1969~: 116

AMERICAN AND SOVIET RESEARCH dm = 2 ~ 2GmN dt ~TrPV(l+ v2 )= 4~r2~(1 + 2(~) 117 _, (1) where m and r are the mass and radius of the Secreting planet, P is its period of revolution around the Sun, p and ~ are the volume and surface density of solid matter in a planet's zone, and ~ is the dimensionless parameter characterizing random velocities of bodies in a planet's zone (in relation to the Kepler circular velocity of a preplanetary swarm's rotation): ~ ~ oc r42~-~/24 v = `~ (fir , (~2) However, Schmidt did not consider the increase of a planet's collisional cross section as a result of focusing orbits via its gravitational field, and the factor (1 + 20) in his formula was absent. For an independent feeding zone of a planet, the surface density a at a point in time t is related to the initial surface density JO by the simple ratio: = ~o(1—m/Qj, (3) where Q is the total mass of matter in a feeding zone of m. It is proportional to the width of the zone 2ARf and is determined, when ~ is on the order of several units, by eccentricities of the orbits of bodies, that is, by their velocities v; when ~ ~ 1, it is determined by the radius of the sphere of the planet's gravitational influence. In both cases it is proportional to the radius of an Secreting planet r. (Schmidt took Q to be equal to the present mass of a planet.) It is clear from (1) and (2) that relative velocities of bodies in the planet's zone are the most significant factor determining a planet's growth rate. The characteristic accumulation time scale is Ma °( (3~1 OC V2. Investi- gations have shown that velocities of bodies are dependent primarily upon their distribution by mass. Velocities of bodies in the swarm rotating around the Sun increase as a result of the gravitational interactions of bodies and decrease as a result of their inelastic collisions. In a quasistationary state, opposing factors are balanced out and certain velocities are established in the system. If the bunk of the mass is concentrated in the larger bodies, expression (2) for the velocities is applicable for velocities with a param- eter e on the order of several units. In the extreme case of bodies of equal mass, e ~ 1. If the bulk of mass is contained in smaller bodies, an average gravitating mass is considerably less than the mass m of the largest body. The parameter e in expression (2) then increases significantly. The velocities of bodies, in turn, influence their mass distribution. Therefore, we need investigations of the coupled evolution of both distributions to produce a strict solution to the problem. This problem cannot be solved

118 PL4NETARY SCIENCES analytically. We thus divided it into two parts: (1) relative velocities of bod- ies were estimated for a pre-assigned mass distribution, and (2) the mass spectrum was determined for pre-assigned velocities. At the same time, we conducted a qualitative study of the coagulation equation for preplanetary bodies. This effort yielded asymptotic solutions in the form of an inverse power law with an exponent q: n(~m) = cm-9, (4) (1.5 < q ~ 2) which is valid for all values m except for the largest bodies. Stable and unstable solutions were found and disclosed an instability of solutions where q > 2 was noted. In this case, the system does not evolve in a steady-state manner. Then the velocities of bodies assumed a power the law of mass distribution (3) with q < 2. They are most conveniently expressed in the form (2~. Then ~ ~ 3 . 5 was found for the system without the gas. In the presence of gas, the parameter 0 is two to three times greater for relatively small bodies. The most lengthy stage was the final stage of accumulation at which the amount of matter left unaccreted was significantly reduced. There was almost no gas remaining at this stage in the terrestrial planet zone. We found from Expression (1) that with ~ = 3 the Earth CHOW 10 g/cm2) accreted about 99~o of its present mass in a ~ 108 year period. The other terrestrial planets were also formed during approximately the same time scale. The time scale of this accumulation process has been repeatedly discussed, revised, and again confirmed for more than 20 years. It may seem strange, but this figure remains also the most probable at this time. The situation in the region of the giant planets has proven much more complex. From eq.(l) we can find an approximate expression for the time scale T formation of the planet, assuming a ~ aof2. Thus, T ~ oa , (5) where ~ is the planet density. Current masses of the outer planets (Uranus and Neptune) correspond to JO ~ 0.3, that is, to a value about 30 times less than in the Earth's zone. The periods of revolution of these planets around the Sun P oc R3/2 are two orders of magnitude greater than that of the Earth's. Therefore, with the same values for 43 (cited above), the growth time scale of Uranus and Neptune would be unacceptably high: T ~ 10~t years. Of course, this kind of result is not proof that the theory is invalid. It does, however, indicate that some important factors have not been taken into account in that theory. In order to obtain a reasonable value for T. we must Increase product BOO in (5) several dozen times. More careful consideration has shown that such an increase of BOO has real grounds.

AMERICAN AND SOVIET RESEARCIl 119 According to (2), velocities of bodies should increase proportionally to the radius of the planet. It is easy to estimate that when Uranus and Neptune grew to about one half of the Earth's mass (i.e., a few percent of their present masses), velocities of bodies for ~ = const ~ 5 should have already reached the third cosmic velocity, and the bodies would escape the solar system. Therefore, further growth of planet mass occurred with v = const, and consequently, according to (2), ~ must have increased. With the increase of m, the rate of ejection of bodies increased more rapidly than the growth rate of the planet. ~ the end of accumulation it exceeded the latter several times, the parameter ~ begin increased about an order of magnitude. It also follows from here that the initial amount of matter in the region of the giant planets (that is, ~0) was several times greater than the amount entered into these planets. Therefore, the difficulty with the time scale for the formation of the outer planets proved surmountable (at least in the first approximation). Furthermore, the very discovery of this difficulty made it possible to discern an important, characteristic feature of the giant planet accumulation process: removal of bodies beyond the boundaries of the planetary system. Since they are not only removed from the solar system, but also to its outer region primarily, a source of bodies was thereby discovered which formed the cometary cloud. The basic possibility of runaway growth, that is "runaway" in terms of the mass of the largest body from the general distribution of the mass of the remaining bodies in its feeding zone, has been demonstrated (Safronov 1969~. Collisional cross-sections of the largest gravitating bodies are pro- portional to the fourth degree of their radii. Therefore, the ratio of the masses of the first largest body m (planet ~`embryo,,) to the mass me of the second largest body, which is located in the feeding zone of m, increases with time. An upper limit for this ratio was found for the case of ~ = const: lim~m/m,) ~ (243~3. An independent estimate of m/m based on the present inclinations of the planetary rotation axes (naturally considered as the result of large bodies falling at the final stage of accumulation) was in agreement with this maximum ratio with the values (3 ~ 3 . 5. These results were a first approximation and, naturally, required further in-depth analysis. Several years later, workers began to critically review the results from opposing positions. Levin (1978) drew attention to the fact that as a runaway m occurred, parameter ~ must increase. The ratio m/m will correspondingly increase. Assuming me and not m is an effective perturbing body in expression (3), he concluded that the ratio m/m may have unlimited growth. Another conclusion was reached in a model of many planet embryos (Safronov and Ruzmaikina 1978; Vityazev et al. 1978; Pechernikova and Vityazev 1979~. At an early stage all the bodies were small The zones of gravitational influence and feeding of the largest

120 PLANETARY SCIENCES bodies, proportional to their radii, were narrow. Each zone had its own leader (a potential planet embryo) and there were many such embryos in the entire zone of the planet (with the total mass mp): Ne ~ (mp/m)il3 for low values of (3 and several times greater when (3 was high. Leaders with no overlapping feeding zones were in relatively similar conditions. Their runaway growth in relation to the remaining bodies in their own zones was not runaway in relation to each other. There was only a slight difference in growth rates that was related to the change of alp with the distances from the Sun. This difference brought about variation in the masses of two adjacent embryos in the terrestrial planet region m/m ~ 1 + 2m/mp. As the leaders grew, their ring zones widened, adjacent zones overlapped, adjacent leaders appeared in the same zone and the largest of them began to grow faster than the smaller one which had ceased being the leader. Masses of the leader grew, but their number was decreased. Normal bodies, lagging far behind the leader in terms of mass, and former leaders me, ma, ..., the largest of which had masses of ~ 10-im, were located in the zone of each leader m. Consequently, there was no substantial gap in the mass distribution of bodies. If the bunk of the mass in this distribution had been concentrated in the larger bodies, for example, if it had been compatible with the power law (4) with the exponent q < 2, the relative velocities of bodies could have been written in the form (2), with values of ~ within the first 10. The leaders in this model comprised a fraction He of all the matter in the planet's zone, which for low values of ~ is equal to lee = Nem/mp ~ (m/mp)213' (6) while for large values of 6, it is several times greater. Approximately the same mass is contained in former leaders. At the early stages of accumulation m << mp and He ~ 1. Thus, velocities of bodies are not controlled by leaders and former leaders, but by all the remaining bodies and are highly dependent upon the mass distribution of these bodies. In the case of the power law (4) with q < 2, runaway embryo growth leads only to a moderate increase in (3 to Oman ~ 10 . 20 at Me ~ 10-~' when control of velocities begins to be shifted to the embryos and ~ decreases to 1 . 2 at the end of accumulation (Safronov l982~. However, it has not proven possible, without numerical simulation of the process which takes into account main physical factors, to find the mass distribution that is established during the accumulation. The first model calculation of the coupled evolution of the mass and velocity distributions of bodies at the early stage of accumulation (Greenberg e! al. 19783 already led to interesting results. The authors found that the system, originally consisting of identical, kilometer-sized bodies, did not produce a steady-state mass distribution, like the inverse

AMERICAN AND SOVIET RESEARCH 121 power law with q < ~ Only several large bodies with r ~ 200 kilometers had formed in it within a brief time scale (2~104 years.), while the predominate mass of matter continued to be held in small bodies. Therefore, velocities of bodies also remained low. Hence, ~ and not v increased in expression (2) as m increased. The algorithm did not allow for further extension of the calculations. If we approximate the mass distribution contained in Graph 4 of this paper by the power law (this is possible with r > 5 kilometers), we easily find that the indicator q decreases over time from q > 10 where t = 15,000 years to ~ 3.5 where t = 22,000 years. It can be expected that further evolution of the system leads to q < 2. Lissauer (1987) and Artymovich (1987) later considered the possibility of rapid protoplanet growth (of the largest body) at very low velocities of the surrounding bodies. The basic idea behind their research was the rapid accretion by a protoplanet m of bodies in its zone of gravitational influence. The width of this zone AR9 = krH is equal to several Hills sphere radii rH = (m/3M~/3R. As m increases, zone OR, expands and new bodies appear in it, which, according to the hypothesis, had virtually been in circular orbits prior to this. According to Artymovich, under the impact of perturbations of m, these bodies acquire the same random velocities as the remaining bodies of the zone of m over a time scale of approximately 20 synodical orbital periods. Assuming that any body entering the Hills sphere of m, falls onto m (or is forever entrapped in this sphere, for example, by a massive atmosphere or satellite swarm, and only then falls onto m), Artymovich obtains a very rapid runaway growth of m until the depletion of matter in zone AR9 within 3 104 years in Earth's zone and 4 105 years in Neptune's zone. Subsequent slow increase of ARg and growth of m occurs as a result of the increase in the eccentricity of the orbit of m owing to perturbations of adjacent protoplanets. Lissauer estimates the growth rate of m using the usual formula (1~. Assuming random velocities of bodies until their encounters with a protoplanet to be extremely low, he assumes that after the encounter they approximate the difference of Kepler circular velocities at a distance of AR = rH. That is, they are proportional to R-~/2. From this he obtains (3eff°C R. Assuming further that these rates are equal to the escape velocity from m at a distance of rH, he finds for R = 1 AU vhe = (r/rH)~12 ~ 1/lS, where ve = (2Gm/r)~/2, and he produces the "upper limit" of Jeff ~ 400 for this value of v/ye using data from numerical integration (Wetherill and Cox 1985~. 1b generalize the numerical results to varying it's, he proposes the expression Jeff ~ 400Rae (~/4~) i13 (7) for a "maximum effective accretion cross-section" at the earliest stage of

122 PLANETARY SCIENCES

AMERICAN AND SOVIET RESEARCH 123 it must be noted that the question of the role of runaway growth in planet formation cannot be considered resolved, despite the great progress achieved in accumulation theory. It is, therefore, worthwhile to consider how the existence of asteroids and comets constrains the process. CONDITIONS OF ASTEROID FORMATION It is now widely recognized that there have never been normal-sized planets in the asteroid zone. Schmidt (1954) was convinced that the growth of preplanetary bodies in this zone originally occurred in the same way as in other zones, but was interrupted at a rather early stage because of its proximity to massive Jupiter. Jupiter had succeeded in growing earlier and its gravitational perturbations increased the relative velocities of the asteroid bodies. As a result, the process by which bodies merged in collisions was superseded by an inverse process: their destruction and breakdown. It was later found that Jovian perturbations may increase velocities and even expel asteroids from the outermost edge of the belt R > 3.5 AU, and resonance asteroids from "Kirkwood gaps," whose periods are commensurate with Jupiter's period of revolution around the Sun. The gaps are extremely narrow, while the mass of all of the asteroids is only one thousandth of the Earth's mass. Therefore, removal of 99.9% of the mass of primary matter from the asteroid zone is a more complex problem than the increase of relative velocities of the remaining asteroids, (up to five kilometers per second, on the average). A higher density of solid matter in the Jovian zone, due to condensa- tion of volatiles, triggered a more rapid growth of bodies in the zone, and correspondingly, the growth of random velocities of bodies and eccentrici- ties of their orbits. With masses of the largest bodies > 1027 g, the smaller bodies of the Jovian zone (JZB) began penetrating the asteroid zone (AZ) and "sweeping out" all the asteroidal bodies which stood in its way and were of significantly smaller size. It has been suggested that the bulk of bodies was removed from the asteroid zone in this way (Safronov 1969~. Subsequent estimates have shown that the JZB could only have removed about one half of the initial mass of AZ matter (Safronov 1979~. In 1973, Cameron and Pine proposed a resonance mechanism by which resonances scan the AZ during the dissipation of gas from solar nebulae. However, it was demonstrated ~rbett and Smoluchowski 1980) that for this to be true, a lost mass of gas must have exceeded the mass of the Sun. In a model of low-mass solar nebulae ~ ~ 0.1M~), resonance displacement could have been more effective as Jupiter's distance from the Sun varied both during its accretion of gas and its removal of bodies from the solar system. We can make a comparison of the growth rates of asteroids and JZB using (1), if we express it as

124 PLANETARY SCIENCES dra _ (l + 2~3a~aai; {Rj >3/2 ~ (8 drj (i + 243j)(Jj~a (RaJ where the indices a and j, respectively, denote the zones under consid- eration. Assuming 8)j ~ USA, [j ~ 2ba/3, ttj/aa ~ 3(Rj/Ra)-n, thatis, a threefold density increase in the Jovian zone due to the condensation of volatiles, we have dra/drj ~ (Rj/Ra)3/2+n/9 ~ 0.1 23/2+n. It is clear from this that the generally accepted value for the density a"(R) of a gaseous solar nebula of n = 3/2 yields dra ~ drj, that is, it does not cause asteroid growth to lag behind JZB. In order for JZB's to have effectively swept bodies out of the AZ, there would have to have been a slower drop of crg(R) with n ~ 1/2 (Ruzmaikin et al. 1989) and, correspondingly, for solid matter ~rj ~ 15 . 20 g/cm2. This condition is conserved when there is runaway growth of the largest bodies in both zones. Expression (8) is now formulated not for the largest, but for the second largest bodies. lithe ratio ej ~ 2Oa is conserved. However, a large body rapidly grows in the asteroidal zone, creating the problem of how it is to be removed. The second condition for effective AZ purging is the timely appearance of JZB's in it. Eccentricities of their orbits must increase to 0.3 - 0.4, while random velocities of v ~ ewR must rise to two to three kilometers per second. According to (2), the mass of Jupiter's "embryo" must have increased to a value of m'j ~ m~0.1~3/2. It is clear from this that JZB penetrating the asteroidal zone at the stage of rapid runaway growth of Jupiter's core, according to Lissauer, (with (3eff ~ 103 to mc ~ l5m~3) is ruled out entirely. In view of these considerations, the values of ~j < 20 . 30 and ea < 10 . 15 are more preferable. But the time scale for the growth of Jupiter's core to its accretion of gas then reaches 107 years. THE REMOVAL OF BODIES FROM THE SOI^R SYSTEM AND THE FORMATION OF THE COMETARY CLOUD Large masses of giant planets inevitably lead to high velocities of bodies at the final stage of accumulation and, consequently, to the removal of bodies from the solar system at this stage. It follows from this that the initial mass of solid matter in the region of giant planets was significantly greater than the mass which these planets now contain. It also follows that part of the ejecta remained on the outskirts of the solar system and formed the cloud of comets. The condition, that the toter angular momentum of all matter be conserved, imposes a constraint upon the expelled mass (~102m~3~. Since the overwhelming majority of comets unquestionably belongs to the solar system and could not have been captured from outside, and since u' sz~ comet formation at distances of more than 100 AU from the

AMERICAN AND SOVIET RESEARCH 125 Sun are only possible with an unacceptably large mass of the solar nebula, the removal of bodies by giant planets appears to be a more realistic way of forming a comet cloud. The condition for this removal is of the same kind as the condition for the ejection of bodies into the asteroidal zone. It is more stringent for Jupiter: velocities of bodies must be mice as great. For the outer planets, the ejection condition can be expressed as mp/m~ > 4 (~/Rae)3/2. It follows from this that Neptune's removal of bodies is only possible where (3 < 102; for Uranus it is only possible for an even lower (3. REFERENCES Artymowicz, P. 1987. Self-regulating protoplanet growth. Icarus 70:30~318. Greenberg, R. J. Wacker, W.K. Hartmann, and CR. Chapman. 1978. Planetesimals to planets: Numerical simulation of collisional evolution. Icarus 35:1-26. Hayakawa, M., and H. Mizutani. 1988. Numerical simulation of planetary accretion process. Lunar Planet. Sci. XIX:455-456. Ipatov, S.I. 1988. Solid-state accumulation of the terrestrial planets. Astron. Vestnik. 21:207-215. Lecar, M., and SJ. Aarseth. 1986. A numerical simulation of the formation of the terrestrial planets. Astrophys. J. 305: 564-579. Levin, B.Yu. 1978. Several issues of planetary accumulation. Letters to AJ. 4:102-107. Lissauer, J. 1987. Time scales for planetary accretion and the structure of the protoplaneta~y disk. Icarus 69.249-265. Pechernikova, G.V., and A.V. V~tyazev. 1979. Masses of largerbodies and dispersion of velocities during planet accumulation. Letters to AJ 5:~1~:54-59. Ruzmaikina, T.V., VS. Safronov, and SJ. Weidenschilling. 1989. Radial mixing of material in the asteroidal zone. In: Binzel, R.P., and M.S. Matthews (eds.~. Asteroids II. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Safronov, V.S. 1954. On the growth of planets in the protoplaneta~y cloud. Astron. J. 31:499-510. Safronov, V.S. 1969. Evolution of the Preplaneta~y Cloud and the Formation of the Earth and the Planets. Nauka, Moscow. Safronov, V.S. 1982. The present state of the theory on the Earth's origin. AS USSR Publ., Fizika Zemli 6:5-24. Safronov, V.S., and T.V. Ruzmaikina. 1978. On the angular momentum transfer and accumulation of solid bodies in the solar nebula. Pages 545-564. In: Gehrels, T. (ed.~. Protosta~s and Planets. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Schmidt, O.Yu. 1944. Meteorite theory on the origin of the Earth and the planets. DAS USSR 45~63:245-249. Schmidt, O.Yu. 1957. Four Lectures on the Theory of the Earth's Origins. 3rd ed. AS USSR Publ., Moscow. Stevenson, D.J., and J.I. Lunine. 1988. Rapid formation of Jupiter by diffusive redistribution of water vapor in the solar nebula. Icarus 75:146-155. Torbett M., and RV. Smoluchowski. 1980. Sweeping of the Jovian resonances and evolution of the asteroids. Icarus 44:722-729. V'tyazev, TV., G.V. Pechernikova, and V.S. Safronov. 1978. Maximum masses, distances and accumulation time scales for terrestrial planets. Astron. J. 55~1~:107-112. Wetherill, G.W. 1989. Formation of the terrestrial planets from planetesimals, this volume. Wetherill, G.W., and L.P. Cox. 1985. The range of validity of the two-body approximation in models of terrestrial planet accumulation. II. Gravitational cross-sections and runaway accretion. Icarus 63:290-303.

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This book contains the proceedings from a workshop on planetary sciences sponsored by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the National Academy of Sciences. The proceedings include papers written by American and Soviet scientists who examine the current theoretical understanding of how the planets were formed and how they evolved to their present state. They assess the type of observations and experiments that are needed to advance understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system based on the current theoretical framework.

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