Runaway growth is an accelerated phase in planetary growth during which the growth rate scales with the planet mass (dM/dt ∼ M^4/3) such that the largest bodies get larger at a rapid and increasing rate. Runaway growth occurs in cases for whichgravitational focusing of small bodies (planetesimals) is very strong. The runaway growth phase is thought to be quite short in most situations and to be stopped when random velocities of the planetesimals are increased to the point where gravitational focusing is stopped and accretion returns to the geometrical regime (where the collision rate is simply proportional to a body’s surface area). However, in situations with very strong damping of planetesimal eccentricities (e.g., viagas drag), runaway growth ofplanetary embryos can be extended all the way to the point at which a growing planet becomes dynamically isolated from its neighbors by accreting all of the mass in its local neighborhood.

• Dynamical Friction...

Authors and Affiliations

1. Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, CNRS, Universite de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

   Sean N. Raymond

Corresponding author

Correspondence toSean N. Raymond.

Editors and Affiliations

1. Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France

   Muriel Gargaud

2. Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

   William M. Irvine

3. Centro Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

   Ricardo Amils

4. Analytical, Environmental, Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium

   Philippe Claeys

5. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

   Henderson James Cleaves

6. Radio Astronomy, Paris Observatory, Paris, France

   Maryvonne Gerin

7. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris-Site de Meudon, Meudon, France

   Daniel Rouan

8. International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland

   Tilman Spohn

9. Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques de Nantes, Centre François Viète d’Histoire des Sciences et de Techniques EA 1161, Nantes, France

   Stéphane Tirard

10. Innovaxiom, Paris, CX, France

    Michel Viso

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