Related papers: The Origin and Evolution of Saturn: A Post-Cassini…
The Core Accretion model is widely accepted as the primary mechanism for forming planets up to a few Jupiter masses. However, the formation of super-massive planets remains a subject of debate, as their formation via the Core Accretion…
There are still many open questions regarding the nature of Uranus and Neptune, the outermost planets in the Solar System. In this review we summarize the current-knowledge about Uranus and Neptune with a focus on their composition and…
We develop a simple model for computing planetary formation based on the core instability model for the gas accretion and the oligarchic growth regime for the accretion of the solid core. In this model several planets can form…
Giant planets are tens to thousands of times as massive as the Earth, and many times as large. Most of their volumes are occupied by hydrogen and helium, the primary constituents of the protostellar disks from which they formed.…
[Abridged] The formation of Jupiter is modeled via core-nucleated accretion, and the planet's evolution is simulated up to the present epoch. The growth from a small embryo until gas accretion overtakes solids' accretion was presented by…
Giant planets acquire gas, ices and rocks during the early formation stages of planetary systems and thus inform us on the formation process itself. Proceeding from inside out, examining the connections between the deep interiors and the…
Recent analyses have shown that the concluding stages of giant planet formation are accompanied by the development of large-scale meridional flow of gas inside the planetary Hill sphere. This circulation feeds a circumplanetary disk that…
It is reasonable to assume that the structure of a planet and the interior distribution of its components are determined by its formation history. We thus follow the growth of a planet from a small embryo through its subsequent evolution.…
Here we show that Iapetus can serve to discriminate between satellite formation models. Its accretion history can be understood in terms of a two-component gaseous subnebula, with a relatively dense inner region, and an extended tail out to…
In the standard model of gas giant planet formation, a large solid core (~ 10 times the Earth's mass) forms first, then accretes its massive envelope (100 or more Earth masses) of gas. However, inward planet migration due to gravitational…
The accretion of icy and rocky solids during the formation of a gas giant planet is poorly constrained and challenging to model. Refractory species, like sulfur, are only present in solids in the protoplanetary disk where planets form.…
Gas giant planets, if present, are the most massive objects in a planetary system and play a pivotal role in shaping its overall architecture. The formation of these planets has constantly been a central issue in planetary science.…
Uranus and Neptune are ice giants with $\sim$ 15% atmospheres by mass, placing them in an intermediate category between rocky planets and gas giants. These atmospheres are too massive to have been primarily outgassed, yet they never…
We present 'empirical' models (pressure vs. density) of Saturn's interior constrained by the gravitational coefficients J_2, J_4, and J_6 for different assumed rotation rates of the planet. The empirical pressure-density profile is…
The formation and orbital evolution of Saturn's inner mid-sized moons are still debated. The most puzzling aspects are 1) how the Tethys-Dione pair and the Mimas-Enceladus pair passed through their strong 3:2 mean-motion resonances during…
Recent studies of solar system formation suggest that the solar system's giant planets formed and migrated in the protoplanetary disk to reach resonant orbits with all planets inside 15 AU from the Sun. After the gas disk's dispersal,…
Planetesimal accretion is a key source for heavy-element enrichment in giant planets. It has been suggested that Jupiter's enriched envelope is a result of planetesimal accretion during its growth assuming it formed in a massive…
We explore the past evolution of Saturn's moons using direct numerical integrations. We find that the past Tethys-Dione 3:2 orbital resonance predicted in standard models likely did not occur, implying that the system is less evolved than…
Observations point to a correlation between outer giants and inner sub-Neptunes, unexplained by simulations so far. We utilize N-body simulations including pebble and gas accretion as well as planetary migration to investigate how the gas…
The planetary mass-radius diagram is an observational result of central importance to understand planet formation. We present an updated version of our planet formation model based on the core accretion paradigm which allows to calculate…