Related papers: Are there any pristine comets? Constraints from pe…
Comets can be divided into two groups: type I, characterized by high gas/dust ratio, low polarization, and a weak or absent 10 micron silicate feature, and type II, for which a low gas/dust ratio, high polarization, and strong silicate…
In recent years, the gravitational collapse of pebble clumps in the early Solar System has been regarded as a plausible scenario for the origin of comets. In this context, ``pebbles'' represent mm- to cm-sized dust aggregates composed of…
Cometary dust particles are best preserved remnants of the matter present at the onset of the formation of the Solar System. Space missions, telescopic observations and laboratory analyses advanced the knowledge on the properties of…
The complete sample of large-perihelion nearly-parabolic comets discovered during the period 1901-2010 is studied starting from their orbit determination. Next, an orbital evolution that includes three perihelion passages…
We study the formation of rocky planets by dry pebble accretion from self-consistent dust-growth models. In particular, we aim at computing the maximum core mass of a rocky planet that can sustain a thin H-He atmosphere to account for the…
Current models of (exo)planet formation often rely on a large influx of so-called `pebbles' from the outer disk into the planet formation region. In this paper, we investigate how the formation of pebbles in the cold outer regions of…
Sub-Neptune planets formed in the protoplanetary disk accreted hydrogen-helium (H,He) envelopes. Planet formation models of sub-Neptunes formed by pebble accretion result in small rocky cores surrounded by polluted H,He envelopes where most…
Protoplanets of Super-Earth sizes may get trapped in convergence zones for planetary migration and form gas giants there. These growing planets undergo accretion heating, which triggers a hot-trail effect that can reverse migration…
The initial abundance of radioactive heat producing isotopes in the interior of a terrestrial planet are important drivers of its thermal evolution and the related tectonics and possible evolution to an Earth-like habitat. The moderately…
Recent theoretical works suggest that the pebble accretion process is important for planet formation in protoplanetary disks, because it accelerates the growth of planetary cores. While several observations reveal axisymmetric sharp gaps in…
The similar orbital distances and detection rates of debris disks and the prominent rings observed in protoplanetary disks suggest a potential connection between these structures. We explore this connection with new calculations that follow…
The formation of planets depends on the underlying protoplanetary disc structure, which influences both the accretion and migration rates of embedded planets. The disc itself evolves on time-scales of several Myr during which both…
The atmospheric chemical composition of a hot Jupiter can lead to insights into where in its natal protoplanetary disk it formed and its subsequent migration pathway. We use a 1-D chemical kinetics code to compute a suite of models across a…
[Abridged] With a growing number of molecules observed in many comets, and an improved understanding of chemical evolution in protoplanetary disk midplanes, comparisons can be made between models and observations that could potentially…
We investigate the effects of radiative energy transfer on a series of nested-grid, high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of gas and particle dynamics in the vicinity of an Earth-mass planetary embryo. We include heating due to the…
Observationally inferred crystalline abundance in silicates in comets, which should have been formed in the outer region of a protoplanetary disk, is relatively high (~ 10-60%), although crystalline silicates would be formed by annealing of…
This text was originally written to accompany a series of lectures that I gave at the `35th Saas-Fee advanced course' in Switzerland and at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii. It reviews my current understanding of the…
Remote observations of comets, especially using high spectral resolution millimeter spectroscopy, have enabled the detection of over 25 molecules in comets for the last twenty years. Among the molecules identified at radio wavelengths,…
Pebble accretion has become a popular component to core accretion models of planet formation, and is especially relevant to the formation of compact, resonant terrestrial planetary systems. Pebbles initially form in the inner protoplanetary…
Early Solar System (SS) planetesimals constitute the parent bodies of most meteorites investigated today. Nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies of bulk meteorites have revealed a dichotomy between non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC)…