  Planetary formation is an efficient process now thought to take place on a
relatively short astronomical time scale. Recent observations have shown that
the dust surrounding a protostar emits more efficiently at longer wavelengths
as the protoplanetary disk evolves, suggesting that the dust particles are
coagulating into fluffy aggregates, "much as dust bunnies form under a bed."
One poorly understood problem in this coagulation process is the manner in
which micron-sized, charged grains form the fractal aggregate structures now
thought to be the precursors of protoplanetary disk evolution. This study
examines the characteristics of such fractal aggregates formed by the collision
of spherical monomers and aggregates where the charge is distributed over the
aggregate structure. The aggregates are free to rotate due to collisions and
dipole-dipole electrostatic interactions. Comparisons are made for different
precursor size distributions and like-charged, oppositelycharged, and neutral
grains.
