Related papers: Protostellar-disc fragmentation across all metalli…

We present 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of the collapse of clumps formed through gravitational instability in the outer part of a protoplanetary disc. The initial conditions are taken directly from a global disc…

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…

Nearly all young stars are initially surrounded by `protoplanetary' discs of gas and dust, and in the case of single stars at least 30\% of these discs go on to form planets. The process of protoplanetary disc formation can result in…

Recent theoretical investigations have suggested that the formation of the very first stars, forming out of metal-free gas, was fundamentally different from the present-day case. In this paper, we study the effect of metallicity on the…

Planet formation models rely on knowledge of the physical conditions and evolutionary processes in protoplanetary disks, in particular the grain size distribution and dust growth timescales. In theoretical models, several barriers exist…

Dust coagulation in protoplanetary disks is not straightforward and is subject to several slow-down mechanisms, such as bouncing, fragmentation and radial drift to the star. Furthermore, dust grains in UV-shielded disk regions are…

Rings and gaps are ubiquitous in protoplanetary disks. Larger dust grains will concentrate in gaseous rings more compactly due to stronger aerodynamic drag. However, the effects of dust concentration on the ring's thermal structure have not…

Stars and their corresponding protoplanetary disks form in diverse environments. To account for these natural variations, we investigate the formation process around nine solar mass stars with a maximum resolution of 2 AU in a Giant…

Flattened, rotating disks of cool dust and gas extending for tens to hundreds of AU are found around almost all low mass stars shortly after their birth. These disks generally persist for several Myr, during which time some material…

I discuss the role that disc fragmentation plays in the formation of gas giant and terrestrial planets, and how this relates to the formation of brown dwarfs and low-mass stars, and ultimately to the process of star formation. Protostellar…

We investigate the fragmentation criterion in massive self-gravitating discs. We present new analysis of the fragmentation conditions which we test by carrying out global three-dimensional numerical simulations. Whilst previous work has…

Fragmentation of massive dense molecular clouds is the starting point in the formation of rich clusters and massive stars. Theory and numerical simulations indicate that the population of the fragments (number, mass, diameter, separation)…

In order to constrain the initial mass function (IMF) of the first generation of stars (Population III), we investigate the fragmentation properties of metal-free gas in the context of a hierarchical model of structure formation. We…

The central region of a circumstellar disk is difficult to resolve in global numerical simulations of collapsing cloud cores, but its effect on the evolution of the entire disk can be significant. We use numerical hydrodynamics simulations…

The morphology of gas-rich disc galaxies at redshift ~1-3 is dominated by a few massive clumps. The process of formation or assembly of these clumps and their relation to molecular clouds in contemporary spiral galaxies are still unknown.…

The connection between the nature of a protoplanetary disk and that of a debris disk is not well understood. Dust evolution, planet formation, and disk dissipation likely play a role in the processes involved. We aim to reconcile both…

A new model for the formation of Jovian planets is proposed. We consider planets forming at large distances from a protostar (>100 AU) through direct fragmentation of a gas cloud, by the same formation mechanism as wide stellar and brown…

Our current understanding of the physical processes of star formation is reviewed, with emphasis on processes occurring in molecular clouds like those observed nearby. The dense cores of these clouds are predicted to undergo gravitational…

We reconstruct the history of the cosmic star formation as well as the cosmic production of metals in the universe by means of detailed chemical evolution models for galaxies of different morphological types. We consider a picture of…

Newly formed stars are often observed to possess circumstellar disks, from which mass continues to be accreted onto the star and fed into outflowing jets, and which eventually may evolve into dusty debris disks and planetary systems. Recent…