Related papers: Self-gravity, resonances and orbital diffusion in …
Using hydrodynamic approach, it is shown that the properties of a marginally stable collisionless stellar disc resemble those of a thermodynamic system undergoing a gas--liquid phase transition. The maximum in Toomre's stability diagram,…
Most analytic work to date on protostellar disks has focused on those in isolation from their environments. However, observations are now beginning to probe the earliest, most embedded phases of star formation, during which disks are…
We characterize empirically the radial diffusion of stars in the plane of a typical barred disk galaxy by calculating the local spatial diffusion coefficient and diffusion time-scale for bulge-disk-halo N-body self-consistent systems which…
The gravitational instability model of planet/brown dwarf formation proposes that protostellar discs can fragment into objects with masses above a few Jupiter masses at large semimajor axis. Tidal downsizing may reduce both the object mass…
We discuss the factors influencing the formation and gravitational fragmentation of protostellar discs. We start with a review of how observations of prestellar cores can be analysed statistically to yield plausible initial conditions for…
We applied a criterion of gravitational instability, valid for two-component and infinitesimally thin discs, to observational data along the major axis for 7 spiral galaxies of early types. Unlike most papers, the dispersion equation…
In nuclear star clusters, the potential is governed by the central massive black hole, so that stars move on nearly Keplerian orbits and the total potential is almost stationary in time. Yet, the deviations of the potential from the…
We study the evolution and final dispersal of protoplanetary discs that evolve under the action of internal and external photoevaporation, and different degrees of viscous transport. We identify five distinct dispersal pathways, which are…
We improve the standard theory of collisional stellar systems by considering the presence of a continuous mass distribution. The calculus of the diffusion coefficients is generalized and a new expression of the Fokker-Planck equation is…
The secular evolution of an infinitely thin tepid isolated galactic disc made of a finite number of particles is investigated using the inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation expressed in terms of angle-action variables. The matrix method is…
The breakdown of flux-freezing in molecular clouds and protostellar discs is usually approximated by ambipolar diffusion at low densities or by resistive diffusion at high densities. Here I discuss an intermediate regime in which the Hall…
It is quite likely that self-gravity will play an important role in the evolution of accretion discs, in particular those around young stars, and those around supermassive black holes. We summarise, here, our current understanding of the…
The secular thickening of a discrete self-gravitating galactic disc is investigated using the inhomogeneous multi-component Balescu-Lenard equation. The thick WKB limit for the diffusion and drift coefficients is found using the epicyclic…
We argue that gravitational instability of typical protostellar disks is not a viable mechanism for the fragmentation into multiple systems -- binary stars, brown dwarf companions, or gas giant planets -- except at periods above roughly…
We study the effect of stellar evolution on the dispersal of protoplanatary disks by performing one-dimensional simulations of long-term disk evolution. Our simulations include viscous disk accretion, magnetohydrodynamic winds, and…
We add the effect of turbulent viscosity via the \alpha-prescription to models of the self-consistent formation and evolution of protostellar discs. Our models are non-axisymmetric and carried out using the thin-disc approximation.…
Gravitational amplification of Poisson noise in stellar systems increases the dipole noise power by roughly a factor of six and the quadrupole noise by 50% for a King model profile. The dipole noise is amplified by a factor of fifteen for…
The long-term evolution of stellar orbits bound to a massive centre is studied in order to understand the cores of star clusters in central regions of galaxies. Stellar trajectories undergo tiny perturbation, the origin of which is twofold:…
We consider the accretion process in a disk with magnetic fields that are dragged in from the interstellar medium by gravitational collapse. Two diffusive processes are at work in the system: (1) "viscous" torques exerted by turbulent and…
A new model to describe the dynamics of particles undergoing diffusion in general relativity is proposed. The evolution of the particle system is described by a Fokker-Planck equation without friction on the tangent bundle of spacetime. It…