DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17872208
title: Direct contact binary planetesimal formation from gravitational collapse

description: This dataset contains all of the data used to generate the figures for the 2026 publication, Direct contact binary planetesimal formation from gravitational collapse, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. Data and information for three of the four figures are included as CSV files which can be used to reproduce the figures exactly as they are in the published material. One of the figures (Fig. 1) includes images taken from PKDGRAV, and can be made available upon request. The text file, "README_Figure_data.txt", provides a detailed table with essential information that will aid in the reproduction of each figure. The table is separated into six different columns, and below are the descriptions of each column with examples (examples are based on Figure 2 from the article).



"Figure" provides the figure number.



Ex: Fig. 2



"File name" lists the file used to generate each figure.



Ex: fig_2.csv



"Description" provides an explanation of what is plotted in the figure.



Ex: Contact binary spin rates from simulated and observed populations as a function of the collision velocities of the mutually orbiting lobes.



"x-axis" is the x-axis label provided in the published material.



Ex: Contact velocity (m/s)



"y-axis" is the y-axis label provided in the published material.



Ex: Spin rate (rev./day)



"Data included (header)" provides essential information about the content of each column for a given CSV file. This includes the names of the label for each column in the associated CSV file and a short description with associated units (if not unitless).



Ex:



data_type: see description of data types below

v_contact(m/s): the mutual velocities (m/s) of each lobe of the contact binary at contact

spin_rate(rev/day): contact binary spin rate (rev./day)

spin_period(hours): contact binary spin period (hours)

data types:



1999_RZ253 - Kern (2006)

2003_SP317 - Thirouin & Sheppard (2024)

etc.








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This dataset also contains all of the processed output data from our simulations, including the properties of individual contact binary lobes (prior to making contact) and bulk contact binary properties (after contact). The text file, "README_processed_data.txt", provides a detailed table with essential information that will aid in reading the output data. The table is separated into four different columns, and below are the descriptions of each column.



"Parent directory" subdivides the processed data based on the stage of contact binary evolution.



lobe_data: information for the lobes of each contact binary prior to contact

contact_binary_data: information about each contact binary after both lobes have made contact



"Subdirectory" provides the name of the subdirectory associated with each parent directory.



lobe_data



individual_lobe_data: information about each lobe that will form each contact binary prior to making contact

lobe_constituent_particle_data: information about the individual particles which comprise each lobe that will form each contact binary

updated_lobe_masses_and_radii: information about the final masses and equivalent radii for each lobe after making contact, including any particles that were accreted onto (or decreted from) the lobes



contact_binary_data



bulk_data: information about each formed contact binary after its lobes made contact

constituent_particle_data: information about the individual particles which comprise each contact binary





"File names & descriptions" provides the file naming conventions and what information is contained within each file.

"Data included (header)" provides essential information about the content of each column for a given CSV file. This includes the names of the label for each column in the associated CSV file and a short description with associated units (if not unitless).