| Abstract: | The initial structure of a comet nucleus is most probably a homogeneous, porous, fine-grained mixture of dust and ices, predominantly
water. The water ice is presumably amorphous and includes considerable fractions of occluded gases. This structure undergoes
significant changes during the early evolution of the nucleus at large heliocentric distances, due to internal radiogenic
heating. Structural changes occur mainly as a result of gas flow through the porous medium: the gas pressure that builds up
in the interior is capable of breaking the fragile structure and altering the pore sizes and porosity. These effects are modeled
and followed numerically, testing a large number of parameters.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
