Architect of Worlds: Reality Ensues
One element of work on the Architect of Worlds project is that real-world science in this area has been advancing by leaps and bounds for years. Not once but several times, I’ve settled on a method for modeling some feature
Now it seems to have happened again. The current model I use for planetary system formation implements a combination of the Nice model and the Grand Tack hypothesis, which together describe how Jupiter may have formed and migrated through the early solar system before settling down in its current location. The assumption is that a planetary system’s primary gas giant will normally form near the “snow line” and then migrate inward (and possibly outward) to its final position. This is all implemented in Step 10 of the current sequence.
Now there seems to be evidence that these models aren’t telling the whole story. In a new paper, “The consequences of planetary migration on the minor bodies of the early Solar System,” computer simulation seems to suggest that the core of Jupiter must have formed much further out than the Nice model suggests. It may have formed as far out as four or five times the snow-line radius, and then migrated inward very quickly.
I need to read the Pirani paper in more
Still, if the Pirani paper seems supportable, it may be necessary to do a significant rewrite of the second chunk of the design sequence. It’s possible that the result may actually be simpler than what I’ve got now. I’ve thought of a way to cut out some of the current sub-steps and computation, making the process a little
3 thoughts on “Architect of Worlds: Reality Ensues”
I don’t know what your goals are with AoW, but there are merits to doing updates like this after the bulk of the system is written, mainly that more discoveries and findings will certainly be released before the rest of the system is complered. The way you’ve broken up the system, chamging the process for one or two steps doesn’t really affect the next section down the chain, it just feeds it improved data.
Given that these discoveries happen periodically but not continuously, something akin to a patch to update the system after it’s done might get you to completion faster and set up a structure for maintaining AoW for however long you choose to.
Mind you, this is all the well-intentioned armchair quarterbacling of someone who wants to see the project completed. I’ve just noticed my own tendency to aim for perfection at every stage of a project and how it has caused me delays.
Well, I’m certainly not going to do anything immediately. This is just one paper, and it’s based solely on computer simulation at that. It does seem to explain a few things about the Jupiter Trojans that weren’t clear before, but I want to see how it fits into the other prevalent models before I do any rewriting.
My usual approach here is to work on this project in bursts, and then spend long periods just watching the literature and mulling over potential models in the back of my mind. I think I may be getting closer to a model for individual worlds that I can work with, so I’ll probably do that piece next. Only then will I come back and see if Step Ten needs revision.
That’s a smart approach. So many of these papers get released into the world only to get shot down a month or two later (or disappear into obscurity). Chasing each new “revelation” will have a person spinning in circles. I look forward to whatever you come up with next!