Related papers: Radioactive Planet Formation
We suggest the existence of a correlation between the planetary radius and orbital period for planets with radii smaller than 4 R_Earth. Using the Kepler data, we find a correlation coefficient of 0.5120, and suggest that the correlation is…
We develop a simple model of planetary formation, focusing our attention on those planets with masses less than 10 Earth masses and studying particularly the primordial spin parameters of planets resulting from the accretion of…
We investigate pathways for the formation of icy super-Earth mass planets orbiting at 125-250 AU around a 1 solar mass star. An extensive suite of coagulation calculations demonstrates that swarms of 1 cm to 10 m planetesimals can form…
Short-lived radioactive nulcei (half-life $\tau_{1/2}\sim1$ Myr) influence the formation of stars and planetary systems by providing sources of heating and ionization. Whereas many previous studies have focused on the possible nuclear…
The most energetic part of the electromagnetic spectrum bears the purest clues to the synthesis of atomic nuclei in the universe. The decay of radioactive species, synthesized in stellar environments and ejected into the interstellar…
Collisional growth of dust occurs in all regions of protoplanetary disks with certain materials dominating between various condensation lines. The sticking properties of the prevalent dust species depend on the specific temperatures. The…
A relationship between the average orbital radii of the planets and their satellites in the solar system and the spectra of atomic and molecular hydrogen is identified and investigated. In this model, stimulated radiative association…
During the process of structure formation in the universe matter is converted into radiation through a variety of processes such as light from stars, infrared radiation from cosmic dust and gravitational waves from binary black…
In this article, I examine several observational trends regarding protoplanetary disks, debris disks and exoplanets in binary systems in an attempt to constrain the physical mechanisms of planet formation in such a context. Binaries wider…
Protostars and young stars are strongly spatially "clustered" or "correlated" within their natal giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We demonstrate that such clustering leads to the conclusion that the incident bolometric radiative flux upon a…
We propose that chondrules are formed by radiative heating of pre-existing dust clumps during close fly-bys of planetesimals with incandescent lava at their surfaces. We show that the required temperatures and cooling rates are easily…
Planet formation takes place in protoplanetary discs around young T-Tauri stars. PDS 70 is one of the first confirmed examples of a system where the planets are currently forming in gaps in the disc, and can be directly imaged. One of the…
After reviewing the difficulties faced by the conventional theory of planet formation (based upon the aggregation of microscopic dust particles), we describe an alternative hypothesis. We propose that planets form by gravitational collapse…
The current models of early star and galaxy formation are based upon the hierarchical growth of dark matter halos, within which the baryons condense into stars after cooling down from a hot diffuse phase. The latter is replenished by infall…
The Solar system was once rich in the short-lived radionuclide (SLR) $^{26}$Al\, but deprived in $^{60}$Fe. Several models have been proposed to explain these anomalous abundances in SLRs, but none has been set within a self-consistent…
Accumulation of dust and ice particles into planetesimals is an important step in the planet formation process. Planetesimals are the seeds of both terrestrial planets and the solid cores of gas and ice giants forming by core accretion.…
Recent direct imaging discoveries suggest a new class of massive, distant planets around A stars. These widely separated giants have been interpreted as signs of planet formation driven by gravitational instability, but the viability of…
Almost half of the stellar systems in the solar neighborhood are made up of multiple stars. In multiple-star systems, planet formation is under the dynamical influence of stellar companions, and the planet occurrence rate is expected to be…
Recent work suggests that $^{26}$Al may determine the water budget in terrestrial exoplanets as its radioactive decay dehydrates planetesimals leading to rockier compositions. Here I consider the observed distribution of $^{26}$Al in the…
We suggest that some extrasolar planets <~ 60 Earth masses will form substantially from silicon carbide and other carbon compounds. Pulsar planets and low-mass white dwarf planets are especially good candidate members of this new class of…