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A rapidly growing body of observational results suggests that planet formation takes place preferentially at high metallicity. In the core accretion model of planet formation this is expected because heavy elements are needed to form the…
Radio images of protoplanetary disks demonstrate that dust grains tend to organize themselves into rings. These rings may be a consequence of dust trapping within gas pressure maxima wherein the local high dust-to-gas ratio is expected to…
After 25 years of laboratory research on protoplanetary dust agglomeration, a consistent picture of the various processes that involve colliding dust aggregates has emerged. Besides sticking, bouncing and fragmentation, other effects, like,…
We investigate where in protoplanetary disks magnetorotational instability operates, which can cause angular momentum transport in the disks. We investigate the spatial distribution of various charged particles and the unstable regions for…
The collisional evolution of solid material in protoplanetary disks is a crucial step in the formation of planetesimals, comets, and planets. Although dense protoplanetary environments favor fast dust coagulation, there are several factors…
Organic macromolecular matter is the dominant carrier of volatile elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and noble gases in chondrites -- the rocky building blocks from which Earth formed. How this macromolecular substance formed in space is…
[Abridged] Aims. We provide an important step toward a better understanding of the magnetorotational instability (MRI)-dust coevolution in protoplanetary disks by presenting a proof of concept that dust evolution ultimately plays a crucial…
Ascertaining rocky exoplanets dynamic evolution requires better understanding of key internal thermophysical processes that shaped their geological surfaces, heat fluxes, volatiles and atmospheric content. New high-pressure experiments on…
The first challenge in the formation of both terrestrial planets and the cores of gas giants is the retention of grains in protoplanetary disks. In most regions of these disks, gas attains sub-Keplerian speeds as a consequence of a negative…
One of the main problems in planet formation, hampering the growth of small dust to planetesimals, is the so-called radial-drift barrier. Pebbles of cm to dm sizes are thought to drift radially across protoplanetary discs faster than they…
Major element fractionation among chondrites has been discussed for decades as ratios relative to Si or Mg. Recently, by expressing ratios relative to Fe, I discovered a new relationship admitting the possibility that ordinary chondrite…
Small (sub)-micron dust is present over the entire lifetime of protoplanetary disks. As aggregation readily depletes small particles, one explanation might be that dust is continuously generated by larger bodies in the midplane and…
Transition disks have dust-depleted inner regions and may represent an intermediate step of an on-going disk dispersal process, where planet formation is probably in progress. Recent millimetre observations of transition disks reveal…
Chemical compositions of giant planets provide a means to constrain how and where they form. Traditionally, super-stellar elemental abundances in giant planets were thought to be possible due to accretion of metal-rich solids. Such…
Aggregation of dust through sticking collisions is the first step of planet formation. Basic physical properties of the evolving dust aggregates strongly depend on the porosity of the aggregates, e.g. mechanical strength, thermal…
Dust coagulation in protoplanetary disks is not straightforward and is subject to several slow-down mechanisms, such as bouncing, fragmentation and radial drift to the star. Furthermore, dust grains in UV-shielded disk regions are…
(abridged) Search for planets around main-sequence (MS) stars more massive than the Sun is hindered by their hot and rapidly spinning atmospheres. This obstacle has been sidestepped by radial-velocity surveys of those stars on their post-MS…
Efficient magnetic braking is a formidable obstacle to the formation of rotationally supported disks (RSDs) around protostars in magnetized dense cores. We have previously shown, through 2D (axisymmetric) non-ideal MHD simulations, that…
Massive cores of the giant planets are thought to have formed in a gas disk by accretion of pebble-size particles whose accretional cross-section is enhanced by aerodynamic gas drag [1][2]. A commonly held view is that the terrestrial…
Protoplanetary disks are dynamic objects, within which dust grains and gas are expected to be redistributed over large distances. Evidence for this redistribution is seen both in other protoplanetary disks and in our own Solar System, with…