Related papers: Rapid destruction of planetary debris around white…
(abridged) Accretion in protoplanetary discs is thought to be driven by [...] turbulence via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Recent work has shown that a planetesimal swarm embedded in a fully turbulent disc is subject to strong…
(abridged) In the core accretion scenario for the formation of planetary rocky cores, the first step toward planet formation is the growth of dust grains into larger and larger aggregates and eventually planetesimals. Although dust grains…
Context. Dusty debris discs around main sequence stars are observed to vary widely in terms of their vertical thickness. Their vertical structure may be affected by damping in inelastic collisions. Although kinetic models have often been…
White dwarf planetary systems provide a unique way to measure the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. Extrasolar asteroids/comets/moons which have survived the evolution of their host star can end up in the atmosphere of the white…
Debris disks around main-sequence stars are believed to derive from planetesimal populations that have accreted at early epochs and survived possible planet formation processes. While debris disks must contain solids in a broad range of…
The role of magnetic fields for the formation of planets is reviewed. Protoplanetary disc turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability has a huge influence on the early stages of planet formation. Small dust grains are transported…
Aggregation of dust through sticking collisions is the first step of planet formation. Basic physical properties of the evolving dust aggregates strongly depend on the porosity of the aggregates, e.g. mechanical strength, thermal…
The metal budgets in some white dwarf (WD) atmospheres reveal that volatile-rich circumstellar bodies must both exist in extrasolar systems and survive the giant branch phases of stellar evolution. The resulting behaviour of these active…
In the past few decades, observations have revealed signatures of metals polluting the atmospheres of white dwarfs. The diffusion timescale for metals to sink from the atmosphere of a white dwarf is of the order of days for a…
Planet-forming circumstellar disks are a fundamental part of the star formation process. Since stars form in a hierarchical fashion in groups of up to hundreds or thousands, the UV radiation environment that these disks are exposed to can…
Planet-forming disc evolution is not independent of the star formation and feedback process in giant molecular clouds. In particular, OB stars emit UV radiation that heats and disperses discs in a process called 'external photoevaporation'.…
[Abridged] We present two deep surveys of circumstellar discs around solar-type stars at different ages carried out at 350 micron with the CSO and at 1.2 mm with the IRAM 30-m telescope. The aim of this study is to understand the evolution…
Protoplanetary disks dissipate rapidly after the central star forms, on time-scales comparable to those inferred for planet formation. In order to allow the formation of planets, disks must survive the dispersive effects of UV and X-ray…
Debris disks are tenuous, dust-dominated disks commonly observed around stars over a wide range of ages. Those around main sequence stars are analogous to the Solar System's Kuiper Belt and Zodiacal light. The dust in debris disks is…
More than a decade of dedicated experimental work on the collisional physics of protoplanetary dust has brought us to a point at which the growth of dust aggregates can - for the first time - be self-consistently and reliably modelled. In…
Planetary systems can survive the stellar evolution, as evidenced by the atmospheric metal pollution and dusty disks of single white dwarfs. Recent observations show that 1 to 4 percent of single white dwarfs are accompanied by dusty disks,…
In protoplanetary discs, the coagulation of dust grains into large aggregates still remains poorly understood. Grain porosity appears to be a promising solution to allow the grains to survive and form planetesimals. Furthermore, dust…
Context. Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are observed to undergo powerful accretion events known as FU Orionis outbursts (FUors). Such events of episodic accretion are now considered to be common during low mass star formation, wherein the…
While the population of main sequence debris discs is well constrained, little is known about debris discs around evolved stars. This paper provides a theoretical framework considering the effects of stellar evolution on debris discs,…
A large proportion of observed white dwarfs (WDs) show evidence of debris disks, remnants of the former planetary systems, and/or signatures of heavy elements in their atmospheres, induced by the accretion of planetary matter onto their…