Related papers: The evolution of self-gravitating accretion discs

Gravitational instability plays an important role in driving gas accretion in massive protostellar discs. Particularly strong is the global gravitational instability, which arises when the disc mass is of order 0.1 of the mass of the…

We examine whether massive-star accretion disks are likely to fragment due to self-gravity. Rapid accretion and high angular momentum push these disks toward fragmentation, whereas viscous heating and the high protostellar luminosity…

We carry out three dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to study the impact of planet-disc interactions on a gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disc. We find that the impact of a planet on the disc's evolution can be…

In this paper we consider the process of alignment of a spinning black hole and a surrounding misaligned accretion disc. We use a simplified set of equations, that describe the evolution of the system in the case where the propagation of…

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 present the results of hydrodynamic simulations examining migration and growth of planets embedded in self-gravitating circumbinary discs. The binary star parameters are chosen to mimic those of the Kepler-16, -34 and -35 systems; the…

It has recently been suggested that in the presence of driven turbulence discs may be much less stable against gravitational collapse than their non turbulent analogs, due to stochastic density fluctuations in turbulent flows. This mode of…

Most stars form in a clustered environment. Therefore, it is important to assess how this environment influences the evolution of protoplanetary discs around young stars. In turn, this affects their ability to produce planets and ultimately…

Disc fragmentation provides an important mechanism for producing low mass stars in prestellar cores. Here, we describe Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations which show how populations of prestellar cores evolve into stars. We find the…

Accretion discs are fundamental to many astrophysical systems, providing the conversion of gravitational potential energy into radiation that we can observe. In many systems there is evidence that discs are warped; from spatially-resolved…

Simulations of the collapse and fragmentation of turbulent molecular clouds and dense young clusters show that encounters between disc-surrounded stars are relatively common events which should significantly influence the resulting disc…

We discuss the structure of a central stellar cluster whose dynamics is influenced by gravitation of a supermassive black hole and by the dissipative interaction of orbiting stars with an accretion disc. We also take the effect of disc…

Discs of gas and dust around Myr-old stars are a by-product of the star formation process and provide the raw material to form planets. Hence, their evolution and dispersal directly impact what type of planets can form and affect the final…

We derive a viscosity from gravitational instability in self-gravitating accretion disks, which has the required properties to account for the observed fast formation of the first super-massive black holes in highly redshifted quasars and…

Direct imaging searches have revealed many very low-mass objects, including a small number of planetary mass objects, as wide-orbit companions to young stars. The formation mechanism of these objects remains uncertain. In this paper we…

Circumstellar discs likely have a short window when they are self-gravitating and prone to the effects of disc instability, but during this time the seeds of planet formation can be sown. It has long been argued that disc fragmentation can…

Aims: We investigate the suitability of {\alpha}-viscosity in self-similar models for self-gravitating disks with a focus on active galactic nuclei (AGN) disks. Methods: We use a self-similar approach to simplify the partial differential…

Accretion discs are present around both stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries and supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. A wide variety of circumstantial evidence implies that many of these discs are warped. The standard…

It is now reasonably clear that disc fragmentation can only operate in the outer parts of protostellar discs ($r > 50$ au). It is also expected that any object that forms via disc fragmentation will have an initial mass greater than that of…

Our current understanding of the physical processes of star formation is reviewed, with emphasis on processes occurring in molecular clouds like those observed nearby. The dense cores of these clouds are predicted to undergo gravitational…