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Exoplanets with masses similar to that of Earth have recently been discovered in extrasolar systems. A first order question for understanding their dynamics is to know whether they possess Earth like liquid metallic cores. However, the iron…
The debate over whether kilometer-sized solids, or planetesimals, assemble by collision-induced chemical sticking or by gravity-driven unstable modes remains unsettled. In light of recent work showing that gravitational growth can occur…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives vigorous turbulence in a region of protoplanetary disks where the ionization fraction is sufficiently high. It has recently been shown that the electric field induced by the MRI can heat up…
Laboratory experiments show that a solid-state greenhouse effect in combination with thermophoresis can efficiently erode a dust bed in a low-pressure gaseous environment. The surface of an illuminated, light absorbing dusty body is cooler…
The interstellar abundances of refractory elements indicate a substantial depletion from the gas phase, that increases with gas density. Our recent model of dust evolution, based on hydrodynamic simulations of the lifecycle of giant…
Highly porous dust aggregates can break through the radial drift barrier, but previous studies assumed disks in their later stage, where the disks have a very small mass and low temperature. In contrast, dust coagulation should begin in the…
Context. To form metre-sized pre-planetesimals in protoplanetary discs, growing grains have to decouple from the gas before they are accreted onto the central star during their phase of fast radial migration and thus overcome the so-called…
Ionization-recombination balance in dense interstellar and circumstellar environments is a key factor for a variety of important physical processes, such as chemical reactions, dust charging and coagulation, coupling of the gas with…
Protoplanets accrete material from their natal protostellar disks until they are sufficiently massive to open a gap in the face of the disk's viscosity that arises from the magneto-rotational instability (MRI). By computing the ionization…
The magnetohydrodynamical behavior (MHD) of accretion disks is reviewed. A detailed presentation of the fundamental MHD equations appropriate for protostellar disks is given. The combination of a weak (subthermal) magnetic field and…
Context.Transition disks are believed to be the final stages of protoplanetary disks, during which a forming planetary system or photoevaporation processes open a gap in the inner disk, drastically changing the disk structure. From…
Millimeter interferometry provides evidence for the presence of mm to cm size "pebbles" in the outer parts of disks around pre-main-sequence stars. The observations suggest that large grains are produced relatively early in disk evolution…
In star formation, magnetic fields act as a cosmic angular momentum extractor that increases mass accretion rates onto protostars and in the process, creates spectacular outflows. However, recently it has been argued that this magnetic…
The increasing number of newly detected exoplanets at short orbital periods raises questions about their formation and migration histories. A particular puzzle that requires explanation arises from one of the key results of the Kepler…
The instability in protoplanetary disks due to gas-dust friction and self-gravity of gas and dust is investigated by linear analysis. In the case where the dust to gas ratio is enhanced and turbulence is week, the instability grows, even in…
Reproducing the large Earth/Mars mass ratio requires a strong mass depletion in solids within the protoplanetary disk between 1 and 3 AU. The Grand Tack model invokes a specific migration history of the giant planets to remove most of the…
Context. Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are observed to undergo powerful accretion events known as FU Orionis outbursts (FUors). Such events of episodic accretion are now considered to be common during low mass star formation, wherein the…
Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable information on…
The thermodynamic structure of protoplanetary discs is determined by dust opacities, which depend on the size of the dust grains and their chemical composition. In the inner regions, the grain sizes are regulated by the level of turbulence…
The edges of magnetically-dead zones in protostellar disks have been proposed as locations where density bumps may arise, trapping planetesimals and helping form planets. Magneto-rotational turbulence in magnetically-active zones provides…