Related papers: Toroidal vortices as a solution to the dust migrat…
High spatial resolution observations of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) by ALMA have revealed many details that are providing interesting constraints on the disk physics as well as dust dynamics, both of which are essential for understanding…
The spatial distribution of dust particles in protoplanetary disks affects dust evolution and planetesimal formation processes. The vertical shear instability (VSI) is one of the candidate hydrodynamic mechanisms that can generate…
There is evidence that protoplanetary disks--including the protosolar one--contain crystalline dust grains on spatial scales where the dust temperature is lower than the threshold value for their formation through thermal annealing of…
A key problem in protoplanetary disc evolution is understanding the efficiency of dust radial drift. This process makes the observed dust disc sizes shrink on relatively short timescales, implying that discs started much larger than what we…
We show that the planetesimal formation due to the gravitational fragmentation of a dust layer in a protoplanetary disk is possible. The dust density distribution in the dust layer would approach the constant Richardson number distribution…
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) has been returning images of transitional disks in which large asymmetries are seen in the distribution of mm-sized dust in the outer disk. The explanation in vogue borrows from the vortex…
The mechanism through which meter-sized boulders grow to km-sized planetesimals in protoplanetary discs is a subject of active research, since it is critical for planet formation. To avoid spiralling into the protostar due to aerodynamic…
We identify and study a number of new, rapidly growing instabilities of dust grains in protoplanetary disks, which may be important for planetesimal formation. The study is based on the recognition that dust-gas mixtures are generically…
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…
Planet migration in protoplanetary discs plays an important role in the longer term evolution of planetary systems, yet we currently have no direct observational test to determine if a planet is migrating in its gaseous disc. We explore the…
Sticking properties rule the early phases of pebble growth in protoplanetary discs in which grains regularly travel from cold, water-rich regions to the warm inner part. This drift affects composition, grain size, morphology, and water…
It is believed that large-scale horseshoe-like brightness asymmetries found in dozens of transitional protoplanetary discs are caused by anticyclonic vortices. These vortices can play a key role in planet formation, as mm-sized dust -- the…
Large-scale vertical magnetic fields are believed to play a key role in the evolution of protoplanetary discs. Associated with non-ideal effects, such as ambipolar diffusion, they are known to launch a wind that could drive accretion in the…
Recent high-spatial-resolution observations have revealed dust substructures in protoplanetary disks such as rings and gaps, which do not always correlate with gas. Because radial gas flow induced by low-mass, non-gas-gap-opening planets…
The prevalence of short-period super-Earths that are independent of host metallicity challenges the theoretical construction of their origin. We propose that dust trapping in the global pressure bump induced by magnetospheric truncation in…
The size and density of dust grains determine their response to gas drag in protoplanetary discs. Aerodynamical (size x density) sorting is one of the proposed mechanisms to explain the grain properties and chemical fractionation of…
When imaged at high-resolution, many proto-planetary discs show gaps and rings in their dust sub-mm continuum emission profile. These structures are widely considered to originate from local maxima in the gas pressure profile. The…
Small solids embedded in gaseous protoplanetary disks are subject to strong dust-gas friction. Consequently, tightly-coupled dust particles almost follow the gas flow. This near conservation of dust-to-gas ratio along streamlines is…
Protoplanetary discs (PPDs) can host a number of instabilities that may partake directly or indirectly in the process of planetesimal formation. These include the Vertical Shear Instability (VSI), Convective Overstability (COS), Streaming…
Protoplanets may be born into dust-rich environments if planetesimals formed through streaming or gravitational instabilities, or if the protoplanetary disc is undergoing mass loss due to disc winds or photoevaporation. Motivated by this…