Smack: A new algorithm for modeling collisions and dynamics of planetesimals in debris disks

Abstract

We present the Superparticle-Method/Algorithm for Collisions in Kuiper belts and debris disks (SMACK), a new method for simultaneously modeling, in three dimensions, the collisional and dynamical evolution of planetesimals in a debris disk with planets. SMACK can simulate azimuthal asymmetries and how these asymmetries evolve over time. We show that SMACK is stable to numerical viscosity and numerical heating over 107 yr and that it can reproduce analytic models of disk evolution. We use SMACK to model the evolution of a debris ring containing a planet on an eccentric orbit. Differential precession creates a spiral structure as the ring evolves, but collisions subsequently break up the spiral, leaving a narrower eccentric ring. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.