Related papers: Apsidal Clustering following the Inclination Insta…
We extend recent investigations on the integrability of oblique orbits of test particles under the gravitational field corresponding to the superposition of an infinitesimally thin disk and a monopole to the more realistic case, for…
The richness of dynamical behavior exhibited by the rotational states of various solar system objects has driven significant advances in the theoretical understanding of their evolutionary histories. An important factor that determines…
Circumplanetary discs can be linearly unstable to the growth of disc tilt in the tidal potential of the star-planet system. We use three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to characterize the disc conditions needed for instability,…
Galaxies above redshift 1 can be very clumpy, with irregular morphologies dominated by star complexes as large as 2 kpc and as massive as a few 10^8 or 10^9 Mo. Their co-moving densities and rapid evolution suggest that most present-day…
In two previous publications$^{1,2}$, we have demonstrated that stationary rotation of magnetized plasma about a compact central object permits an enormous number of different MHD instabilities, with the well-known magneto-rotational…
With $n$-body simulations we investigate the stability of tilted circumbinary planetary systems consisting of two nonzero mass planets. The planets are initially in circular orbits that are coplanar to each other, as would be expected if…
The steady state reached by a system of particles sliding down a fluctuating surface has interesting properties. Particle clusters form and break rapidly, leading to a broad distribution of sizes and large fluctuations. The density-density…
Unexpected clustering in the orbital elements of minor bodies beyond the Kuiper belt has led to speculations that our solar system actually hosts nine planets, the eight established plus a hypothetical "Planet Nine". Several recent studies…
N-body simulations of disc galaxies that display recurrent transient spiral patterns are comparatively easy to construct, but are harder to understand. In this paper, I summarise the evidence from such experiments that the spiral patterns…
The gravitational three-body problem is a fundamental problem in physics and has significant applications to astronomy. Three-body configurations are often considered stable as long the system is hierarchical; that is, the two orbital…
The presence of protostellar disks can greatly increase the dissipation during close stellar encounters, leading to the formation of a significant population of binaries during the initial collapse and virialization of a cluster. We have…
Studies of a class of infinite one dimensional self-gravitating systems have highlighted that, on the one hand, the spatial clustering which develops may have scale invariant (fractal) properties, and, on the other, that they display…
Some points related to the exponential instability of N-body gravitating systems and which are misinterpreted in various papers are clarified. Exponential instability is a phenomenon essentially responsible for the relaxation, evolutionary,…
Radial velocity searches for exoplanets have detected many multi-planet systems around nearby bright stars. An advantage of this technique is that it generally samples the orbit outside of inferior/superior conjunction, potentially allowing…
A disk around one component of a binary star system with sufficiently high inclination can undergo Kozai-Lidov (KL) oscillations during which the disk inclination and disk eccentricity are exchanged. Previous studies show that without a…
We demonstrate the existence of long-lived, large-amplitude eccentric modes in massive, annular particle disks in orbit about a central mass. The lopsided modes we have found precess slowly in the prograde direction at a rate which…
The known extrasolar multiple-planet systems share a surprising dynamical attribute: they cluster just beyond the Hill stability boundary. Here we show that the planet-planet scattering model, which naturally explains the observed exoplanet…
Many galaxies at high redshift have peculiar morphologies dominated by 10^8-10^9 Mo kpc-sized clumps. Using numerical simulations, we show that these "clump clusters" can result from fragmentation in gravitationally unstable primordial…
Using numerical hydrodynamics simulations we studied the gravitational collapse of pre-stellar cores of sub-solar mass embedded into a low-density external environment. Four models with different magnitude and direction of rotation of the…
We present an instability occurring in the inner part of disks threaded by a moderately strong vertical (poloidal) magnetic field. Its mechanism is such that a spiral density wave in the disk, driven by magnetic stresses (rather than…