A New Database of Giant Impacts over a Wide Range of Masses and with Material Strength: A First Analysis of Outcomes

In the late stage of terrestrial planet formation, planets are predicted to undergo pairwise collisions known as giant impacts. Here, we present a high-resolution database of giant impacts for differentiated colliding bodies of iron-silicate composition, with target masses ranging from 1 x 10-4 M circle plus up to super-Earths (5 M circle plus). We vary the impactor-to-target mass ratio, core-mantle (iron-silicate) fraction, impact velocity, and impact angle. Strength in the form of friction is included in all simulations. We find that, due to strength, the collisions with bodies smaller than about 2 x10-3 M circle plus can result in irregular shapes, compound-core structures, and captured binaries. We observe that the characteristic escaping velocity of smaller remnants (debris) is approximately half of the impact velocity, significantly faster than currently assumed in N-body simulations of planet formation. Incorporating these results in N-body planet formation studies would provide more realistic debris-debris and debris-planet interactions.