Abstract
Recent conjectures suggest the universe may have large extra dimensions, through which gravity propagates. This implies gross departures from Newton's law of gravity at small length scales. Here I consider some implications for particle dynamics on scales comparable to the compactification radius, Rc ≲ 1 mm. During planet formation, coalescence of micron sized dust grains to planetesimals is a rate critical step. Blum et al. (2000) found dust grain aggregates form low fractal dimension structures in microgravity, consistent with high angular momentum coalescence. I consider the effects of non-Newtonian gravity on dust aggregation on scales less than Rc and show they naturally coalesce into low-dimensional structures with high specific angular momentum. We infer Rc ≈ 80 microns.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 781-784 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | International Journal of Modern Physics D |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2001 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Mathematical Physics
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science