James B. Pollack led numerical models of gas giant formation that calculated solid and gaseous accretion together. The simulations combined capture of planetesimals, evolution of the planetary gas envelope and dissolution of incoming solid material within that envelope.
The coupling matters because accreting solids both increase the central mass and deposit energy, changing the envelope's subsequent ability to collect gas. The resulting evolutionary phases include rapid solid growth, slower growth of both components and eventually rapid gas accumulation. This gave a physical account of how an initially modest solid core could become a giant planet within the available disk lifetime.[ref]
Formation of the giant planets by concurrent accretion of solids and gas by James B. Pollack and others. p. 62, abstract: coupled numerical components and three evolutionary phases
Portrait of James B. Pollack
. NASA/Ames Research Center. Public domain in the United States (NASA work, as marked on Commons), via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
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