Related papers: The Validity of the Super-Particle Approximation d…
For problems in astrophysics, planetary science and beyond, numerical simulations are often limited to simulating fewer particles than in the real system. To model collisions, the simulated particles (aka superparticles) need to be inflated…
We present three-dimensional numerical simulations of particle clumping and planetesimal formation in protoplanetary disks with varying amounts of solid material. As centimeter-size pebbles settle to the mid-plane, turbulence develops…
The dynamics of planetesimals plays an important role in planet formation, because their velocity distribution sets the growth rate to larger bodies. When planetesimals form in protoplanetary discs, their orbits are nearly circular and…
Two basic routes for planetesimal formation have been proposed over the last few decades. One is a classical "slow-growth" scenario. Another one is particle concentration models, in which small pebbles are concentrated locally and then…
Planetesimal accretion during planet formation is usually treated as collisionless. Such accretion from a uniform and dynamically cold disk predicts protoplanets with slow retrograde rotation. However, if the building blocks of…
In models of planetary accretion, pebbles form by dust coagulation and rapidly migrate toward the central star. Planetesimals may continuously form from pebbles over the age of the protoplanetary disk by yet uncertain mechanisms. Meanwhile,…
A highly favoured mechanism of planetesimal formation is collisional growth. Single dust grains, which follow gas flows in the protoplanetary disc, hit each other, stick due to van der Waals forces and form fluffy aggregates up to…
Some scenarios for planetesimal formation go through a phase of collapse of gravitationally bound clouds of mm-cm-sized pebbles. Such clouds can form for example through the streaming instability in protoplanetary disks. We model the…
An unsolved issue in the standard core accretion model for gaseous planet formation is how kilometre-sized planetesimals form from, initially, micron-sized dust grains. Solid growth beyond metre sizes can be difficult both because the…
Modelling the formation of super-km-sized planetesimals by gravitational collapse of regions overdense in small particles requires numerical algorithms capable of handling simultaneously hydrodynamics, particle dynamics and particle…
The growth and migration of planetesimals in a young protoplanetary disc are fundamental to planet formation. In all models of early growth, there are several processes that can inhibit grains from reaching larger sizes. Nevertheless,…
The early stages of planet formation are still not well understood. Coagulation models have revealed numerous obstacles to the dust growth, such as the bouncing, fragmentation and radial drift barriers. We study the interplay between dust…
Planetary systems form in gas-dust protoplanetary discs via the growth of solid bodies. In this paper, we show that the most intriguing stage of such growth --- namely, the transformation of 1-10 m boulders into kilometre-sized…
Solid particles in protoplanetary disks that are sufficiently super-solar in metallicity overcome turbulence generated by vertical shear to gravitationally condense into planetesimals. Super-solar metallicities result if solid particles…
Planet formation occurs within the gas and dust rich environments of protoplanetary disks. Observations of these objects show that the growth of primordial sub micron sized particles into larger aggregates occurs at the earliest stages of…
Proposed mechanisms for the formation of km-sized solid planetesimals face long-standing difficulties. Robust sticking mechanisms that would produce planetesimals by coagulation alone remain elusive. The gravitational collapse of smaller…
The gravitational instability of a dust layer is one of the scenarios for planetesimal formation. If the density of a dust layer becomes sufficiently high as a result of the sedimentation of dust grains toward the midplane of a…
We study particle dynamics in local two-dimensional simulations of self-gravitating accretion discs with a simple cooling law. It is well known that the structure which arises in the gaseous component of the disc due to a gravitational…
The formation of planetesimals is often accredited to collisional sticking of dust grains. The exact process is unknown, as collisions between larger aggregates tend to lead to fragmentation or bouncing rather than sticking. Recent…
Accumulation of dust and ice particles into planetesimals is an important step in the planet formation process. Planetesimals are the seeds of both terrestrial planets and the solid cores of gas and ice giants forming by core accretion.…