Related papers: Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation
Planets are born from disks of gas and dust, and observations of protoplanetary disks are used to constrain the initial conditions of planet formation. However, dust mass measurements of Class II disks with ALMA have called into question…
We review the current theoretical understanding how growth from micro-meter sized dust to massive giant planets occurs in disks around young stars. After introducing a number of observational constraints from the solar system, from observed…
Giant impacts refer to collisions between two objects each of which is massive enough to be considered at least a planetary embryo. The putative collision suffered by the proto-Earth that created the Moon is a prime example, though most…
Solid material in protoplanetary discs will suffer one of two fates after the epoch of planet formation; either being bound up into planetary bodies, or remaining in smaller planetesimals to be ground into dust. These end states are…
Optically thin dusty disks around Main Sequence stars consist of debris from catastrophic collisions or from low erosion of long-lived planetesimals. Resolved observations of dusty disks have systematically evidenced asymmetries and annular…
The formation of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks due to collisional sticking of smaller dust aggregates has to face at least two severe obstacles, namely the rapid loss of material due to radial inward drift and particle fragmentation…
Doppler surveys have shown that more massive stars have significantly higher frequencies of giant planets inside $\sim$ 3 AU than lower mass stars, consistent with giant planet formation by core accretion. Direct imaging searches have begun…
Planet formation encompasses processes that span a remarkable 40 magnitudes in mass, ranging from collisions between micron-sized grains inherited from the ISM to the accretion of gas by giant planets. The planet formation process takes…
The study of the planet-debris disk connection can shed light on the formation and evolution of planetary systems, and may help predict the presence of planets around stars with certain disk characteristics. In preliminary analyses of the…
Many members of nearby young moving groups exhibit infrared excess attributed to circumstellar debris dust, formed via erosion of planetesimals. With their proximity and well-dated ages, these groups are excellent laboratories for studying…
The nature of the few known solar-mass stars simultaneously containing debris disks and planets remains an open question. A number of works have shown that this property appears to be independent of planetary masses as well as of stellar…
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…
Around 2% of all A stars have photospheres depleted in refractory elements. This is hypothesized to arise from a preferential accretion of gas rather than dust, but the specific processes and the origin of the material -- circum- or…
Brown dwarfs and very low mass stars are a significant fraction of stars in our galaxy, and they are interesting laboratories to investigate planet formation in extreme conditions of low temperature and densities. In addition, the dust…
Debris discs reveal the architectures and dynamical histories of planetary systems. Sub-millimetre observations trace large dust grains within debris discs, revealing their bulk properties. Debris discs have so far only been detected around…
There is currently debate over whether the dust content of planetary systems is stochastically regenerated or originates in planetesimal belts evolving in steady state. In this paper a simple model for the steady state evolution of debris…
Since the 1990's, protoplanetary disks and planetary disks have been intensively observed from the optical to the millimetre wavelength and many models have been developed to investigate their gas and dust properties and dynamics. These…
Cold debris disks (T$<$200 K) are analogues to the dust in the Solar System's Kuiper belt--dust generated from the evaporation and collision of minor bodies perturbed by planets, our Sun, and the local interstellar medium. Scattered light…
Observations of circumstellar disks provide a powerful tool for our understanding of planetary systems dynamics. Analogs to the Solar System asteroid belts, debris disks result from the collision of the remaining solid material of the…
Detectable debris discs are thought to require dynamical excitation (`stirring'), so that planetesimal collisions release large quantities of dust. We investigate the effects of the secular perturbations of a planet, which may lie at a…