Fragmentation Dynamics of Pristine Interstellar Comets: An Exploratory Multi-Physics Simulation Study

Abstract

We present an exploratory numerical model for the thermal evolution and fragmentation of pristine interstellar comets during a first passage through the inner Solar System, and we apply it across a grid of perihelion distances (q=0.25--1.5~AU) and tensile strengths (σ_t=50--500~Pa). The model follows a single nucleus (M_0=2\times10^{12}~kg, R_0\approx1060~m, dust/ice =1, ice composition 35\% CO, 30\% CO_2, 15\% CH_4, 20\% H_2O) along a continuous hyperbolic trajectory, solving heat conduction into an initially 30~K interior, energy-balanced multi-species sublimation with retreating volatile fronts, dust lifting and lag-mantle growth, and a subsurface gas-pressure failure criterion, so that the number of fragments is an emergent outcome rather than a numerical input. In our primary case (q=1~AU, σ_t=100~Pa) the nucleus begins splitting essentially at the 3~AU start of the simulation ($r_h=$~2.99~AU within the first day), as soon as a sub-millimeter lag deposit partially confines the warming CO front---implying that for pristine composition the onset lies beyond our starting distance---and disaggregates through 63 binary splittings into at least 64 fragments---our tracking cap, reached near perihelion after a self-limited pre-perihelion plateau at 53 bodies---with 1.3\% total mass loss; sublimation is energy-limited, so reservoir depletions stay modest (CO 2\%, CH_4 2\%, CO_2 1\%, H_2O <0.1\%) and the shattered body retains almost all of its mass as a fragment swarm; the mass budget closes to machine precision. Across the explored grid, no combination leaves the nucleus intact, and mass loss depends only weakly on q and σ_t (0.8--1.7\%) while depending strongly on composition: depleted, 67P-like ices reduce mass loss to 0.1\% at q=1~AU.