Related papers: Pebble dynamics and accretion onto rocky planets. …
The interest in the structure of ice-rich planetary bodies, in particular the differentiation between ice and rock, has grown due to the discovery of Kuiper belt objects and exoplanets. We thus carry out a parameter study for a range of…
We study the torque acting on a planet embedded in an optically thick accretion disc, using global two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. The temperature of an optically thick accretion disc is determined by the energy balance between…
We study the disc planet interactions of low-mass protoplanets embedded in a circumstellar disc. We extend the standard theory of planet migration from the usual locally isothermal assumption to include non-barotropic effects, focusing on…
Turbulent convection in the interiors of the Sun and the Earth occurs at high Rayleigh numbers $Ra$, low Prandtl numbers $Pr$, and different levels of rotation rates. To understand the combined effects better, we study rotating turbulent…
We study the evolution of planetesimals in evolved gaseous disks, which orbit a solar-mass star and harbor a Jupiter-mass planet at a_p~5AU. The gas dynamics is modeled with a three-dimensional hydrodynamics code that employes nested-grids…
We study the heat transfer in weakly interacting particle systems in vacuum. The particles have surface roughness with self-affine fractal properties, as expected for mineral particles produced by fracture, e.g., by crunching brittle…
The heavy element content of giant exoplanets, inferred from structure models based on their radius and mass, often exceeds predictions based on classical core accretion. Pebble drift, coupled with volatile evaporation, has been proposed as…
The gaseous envelope of an accreting rocky planet becomes hot enough to sublimate silicates and other refractory minerals. For this work, we studied the effect of the resulting envelope enrichment with a heavy vapor species on the…
We consider the atmospheric flow on short-period extra-solar planets through two-dimensional numerical simulations of hydrodynamics with radiation transfer. One side is always exposed to the irradiation from the host star. The other is…
We perform three-dimensional self-gravitating radiative transfer simulations of protoplanet migration in circumstellar discs to explore the impact upon migration of the radial temperature profiles in these discs. We model protoplanets with…
Recent observations found close-in planets with significant atmospheres of hydrogen and helium in great abundance. These are the so-called super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Their atmospheric composition suggests that they formed early during…
Recent interferometric data have been used to constrain the brightness distribution at the surface of nearby stars, in particular the so-called gravity darkening that makes fast rotating stars brighter at their poles than at their equator.…
Super-Earths are found in tighter orbits than the Earth's around more than one third of main sequence stars. It has been proposed that super-Earths are scaled-up terrestrial planets that formed similarly, through mutual accretion of…
Outward migration of low-mass planets has recently been shown to be a possibility in non-barotropic disks. We examine the consequences of this result in evolutionary models of protoplanetary disks. Planet migration occurs towards…
Earth is depleted in volatile elements relative to chondritic meteorites, its possible building blocks. The extent of this depletion increases with decreasing condensation temperature, and is approximated by a cumulative normal…
The release of heat by a planetary embryo modifies the local density perturbations, forming thermal lobes in its vicinity, and thereby altering the torque exerted by the disk on the embryo. In laminar disks, these thermal torques can…
According to the core-accretion scenario, planets form in protostellar disks through the condensation of dust, coagulation of planetesimals, and emergence of protoplanetary embryos. At a few AU in a minimum mass nebula, embryos' growth is…
Our main goal is to study the formation of rocky planets and the first $100~\textrm{Myr}$ of their dynamical evolution around a star with mass $0.08 M_\odot$ close to the substellar mass limit. We developed two sets of $N$-body simulations…
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…
The atmospheres of close-in planets are strongly influenced by mass loss driven by the high-energy (X-ray and extreme ultraviolet, EUV) irradiation of the host star, particularly during the early stages of evolution. We recently developed a…