{
  "abstract": "I present a discrete-element approach developed to study the collisional and gravitational evolution of small self-gravitating granular aggregates. Each body is represented as a composite of cohesively bonded spherical grains, so that fragmentation and reaccumulation emerge from the microscopic competition between short-range dissipative contact forces, an irreversible bond-breaking criterion, and pairwise Newtonian self-gravity summed over every particle pair, including those internal to a single body. A numerical experiment is described: a random-sequential packing procedure that generates two bonded spherical aggregates, a controlled two-body encounter with tunable approach speed and impact parameter, and a systematic parameter sweep designed to map the conditions under which two bodies launched from rest under their mutual gravity alone either merge into a single remnant or fail to settle after a low-speed encounter. Of the 125 simulated collisions, 56.8\\% result in the formation of a single residue. The cohesive network remains intact for $Π_σ\\lesssim0.036$, is partially damaged with dispersion determined by the contact damping ratio, and breaks completely for $Π_σ\\approx3.59$",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.30903",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yohann Trivino"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aj7rky0yxj3d9.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.30903",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "aj7rky0yxj3d9",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30903",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.EP"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.soft"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Astro and Planetary Science"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214580128",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.30903",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-25",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aj7rky0yxj3d9.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:52Z",
      "native_id": "2609.30903",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30903"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.EP",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.soft",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A Bonded-Particle Discrete-Element Model with Self-Gravity for the Collision and Reaccumulation of Rubble-Pile Asteroids: Formulation and Numerical Protocol",
  "title_text": "A Bonded-Particle Discrete-Element Model with Self-Gravity for the Collision and Reaccumulation of Rubble-Pile Asteroids: Formulation and Numerical Protocol",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:24:52Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aj7rky0yxj3d9",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}