Related papers: A Magnetized, Moon-Forming Giant Impact
In protoplanetary disks, dust grains rich in metallic iron can attract each other magnetically. If they are magnetized to values near saturation, the magnetically induced collision speeds are high enough to knock off the non-magnetized,…
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the formation process of satellite systems, and relatively large moons are thought to be born in circumplanetary disks. Making a single-moon system is known to be more difficult than…
Here a physical model for terminating giant planet formation is outlined and compared to other methods of late-stage giant planet formation. As has been pointed out before, gas accreting into a gap and onto the planet will encounter the…
The Earth-Moon system is unusual in several respects. The Moon is roughly 1/4 the radius of the Earth - a larger satellite-to-planet size ratio than all known satellites other than Pluto's Charon. The Moon has a tiny core, perhaps with only…
The angular momentum of the present Earth-Moon system could be acquired at the collision of two identical rarefied condensations with sizes of Hill spheres which total mass was about 0.1 of the mass of the Earth. Solid embryos of the Earth…
I discuss the role that disc fragmentation plays in the formation of gas giant and terrestrial planets, and how this relates to the formation of brown dwarfs and low-mass stars, and ultimately to the process of star formation. Protostellar…
Recent cosmological hydrodynamic simulations have suggested that the first stars in the universe often form as binary or multiple systems. However, previous studies typically overlooked the potential influence of magnetic fields during this…
The origin of Mars's small moons, Phobos and Deimos, remains unknown. They are typically thought either to be captured asteroids or to have accreted from a debris disk produced by a giant impact. Here, we present an alternative scenario…
Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of primordial star formation suggest that the gas within the first star-forming halos is turbulent. This has strong implications on the subsequent evolution, in particular on the generation of…
The origin of Mercury still remains poorly understood compared to the other rocky planets of the Solar System. One of the most relevant constraints that any formation model has to fulfill refers to its internal structure, with a predominant…
Aspects of our Solar System's formation are deduced from observations of the chemical nature of matter. Massive cores are indicative of terrestrial-planet-composition-similarity to enstatite chondrite meteorites, whose highly-reduced state…
A giant impact origin for the Moon is generally accepted, but many aspects of lunar formation remain poorly understood and debated. \'Cuk et al. (2016) proposed that an impact that left the Earth-Moon system with high obliquity and angular…
Star formation is thought to be triggered by the gravitational collapse of the dense cores of molecular clouds. Angular momentum conservation during the collapse results in the progressive increase of the centrifugal force, which eventually…
Lunar dust particles are generated by hypervelocity impacts of interplanetary micron-meteoroids onto the surface of the Moon, which seriously threatens the security of explorations. Studying the lunar dust dynamics helps to understand the…
Mercury has an unusually large metal core comprising ~70% of its mass comparing to all other terrestrial planets in the solar system. Giant impacts can remove a significant fraction of the silicate mantle of a chondritic proto-Mercury and…
Terrestrial planets are believed to be formed via giant impacts of Mars-sized protoplanets. Planets formed via giant impacts have highly eccentric orbits. A swarm of planetesimals around the planets may lead to eccentricity damping for the…
Earth and Moon are shown here to be composed of oxygen isotope reservoirs that are indistinguishable, with a difference in {\Delta}"17O of -1 +/- 5ppm (2se). Based on these data and our new planet formation simulations that include a…
Massive stars disproportionately influence their surroundings. How they form has only started to become clear recently through radiation gas dynamical simulations. However, until now, no simulation has simultaneously included both magnetic…
Recent numerical studies suggest that magnetic fields play an important role in primordial star formation in the early universe. However, the detailed evolution of the magnetic field in the collapse phase still has uncertainties because of…
Supersonic isothermal turbulence establishes a network of transient dense shocks that sweep up material and have a density profile described by balance between ram pressure of the background fluid versus the magnetic and gas pressure…