Related papers: Dynamical Population of Comet Reservoirs
The orbital parameters of the observed extrasolar planets differ strongly from those of our own solar system. The differences include planets with high masses, small semi-major axis and large eccentricities. We performed numerical…
Via joint analysis of a calibrated telescopic survey, which found scattering Kuiper Belt objects, and models of their expected orbital distribution, we measure the form of the scattering object's size distribution. Ruling out a single…
Our current knowledge of the dynamical structure of the Kuiper Belt is reviewed here. Numerical results on long term orbital evolution and dynamical mechanisms underlying the transport of objects out of the Kuiper Belt are discussed.…
Refractory organic compounds formed in molecular clouds are among the building blocks of the solar system objects and could be the precursors of organic matter found in primitive meteorites and cometary materials. However, little is known…
Volatiles are compounds with low sublimation temperatures, and they make up most of the condensible mass in typical planet-forming environments. They consist of relatively small, often hydrogenated, molecules based on the abundant elements…
Most stars and thus most planetary systems do not form in isolation. The larger star-forming environment affects protoplanetary disks in multiple ways: gravitational interactions with other stars truncate disks and alter the architectures…
In this work we explore a new dynamical path for the delivery of low-inclination comets. In a configuration formed by an interior giant planet and an exterior massive debris disk, where the mass is accounted for by the 50 largest objects in…
The fundamentally different isotopic compositions of non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) meteorites reveal the presence of two distinct reservoirs in the solar protoplanetary disk that were likely separated by Jupiter. However, the…
We discuss the chemical pre-conditions for planet formation, in terms of gas and ice abundances in a protoplanetary disk, as function of time and position, and the resulting chemical composition and cloud properties in the atmosphere when…
As gas giant planets evolve, they may scatter other planets far from their original orbits to produce hot Jupiters or rogue planets that are not gravitationally bound to any star. Here, we consider planets cast out to large orbital…
Exocomets are small bodies releasing gas and dust which orbit stars other than the Sun. Their existence was first inferred from the detection of variable absorption features in stellar spectra in the late 1980s using spectroscopy. More…
Hundreds of circumstellar disks in the Orion nebula are being rapidly destroyed by the intense ultraviolet radiation produced by nearby bright stars. These young, million-year-old disks may not survive long enough to form planetary systems.…
We demonstrate that the observationally inferred rapid onset of star formation after parental molecular clouds have assembled can be achieved by flow-driven cloud formation of atomic gas, using our previous three-dimensional numerical…
We are observing, thanks to ALMA, the dust distribution in the region of active planet formation around young stars. This is a powerful tool to connect observations with theoretical models and improve our understandings of the processes at…
The edge-on disk surrounding the nearby young star Beta Pictoris is the archetype of the "debris disks", which are composed of dust and gas produced by collisions and evaporation of planetesimals, analogues of Solar System comets and…
Recent observations have revealed a variety of young star clusters, including embedded systems, young massive clusters, and associations. We study the formation and dynamical evolution of these clusters using a combination of simulations…
During their formation, emerging protoplanets tidally interact with their natal disks. Proto-gas-giant planets, with Hills radius larger than the disk thickness, open gaps and quench gas flow in the vicinity of their orbits. It is usually…
The large number of observed exoplanets ($\gtrsim $ 700) provides important constraints on their origin as deduced from the mass-period diagram of planets. The most surprising features in the diagram are 1) the (apparent) pile up of gas…
The discovery of the first two interstellar objects implies that, on average, every star contributes a substantial amount of material to the galactic population by ejecting such bodies from the host system. Since scattering is a chaotic…
Quantification of the Galaxy's star formation history involves both the duration and the rate of formation, with these parameters being known with different precision for different populations. The early rate of star formation is knowable…