 Eiichiro Kokubo

Eiichiro Kokubo uses numerical dynamics to investigate planet formation. His work with Shigeru Ida identified a regime of oligarchic growth, where neighboring large protoplanets accrete smaller planetesimals while remaining dynamically separated.

The large bodies alter the very population from which they grow: their gravity increases small-body random velocities, changing subsequent collision and capture rates. Following this feedback distinguishes the oligarchic regime from a simple extrapolation in which the largest object keeps outgrowing all its neighbors indefinitely.^[ref]