Dynamic Reaction to Rapid Mass Loss

An illustration of the effects discussed in Penoyre and Haiman 2017

Each particle is initially on a circular orbit, coloured by their distance from the central mass. The background colour shows the density of particles in each shell.

Click on the central body to drop its mass by 20 percent.

Watch as particles now travel on elliptical orbits, never going closer than their initial radius.

At first they all move outwards and the density drops, but as they start to return, high density regions, where the orbit of many particles cross, develop and move outwards.

You can drop the mass further by clicking more, or increase it by right-clicking. The whole thing can be paused by pressing "space". Reload the page to restart the simulation.

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