Related papers: Close encounters: How stellar flybys shape planet-…
Giant impacts refer to collisions between two objects each of which is massive enough to be considered at least a planetary embryo. The putative collision suffered by the proto-Earth that created the Moon is a prime example, though most…
The composition of gas and solids in protoplanetary discs sets the composition of planets that form out of them. Recent chemical models have shown that the composition of gas and dust in discs evolves on Myr time-scales, with volatile…
Past studies have revealed the dependency of the disc parameters (mass, radius, viscosity, grain fragmentation velocity, dust-to-gas ratio) on the formation of giant planets, where more massive discs seem beneficial for giant planet…
It has recently been noted that many discs around T Tauri stars appear to comprise only a few Jupiter-masses of gas and dust. Using millimetre surveys of discs within six local star-formation regions, we confirm this result, and find that…
Young stellar systems are known to undergo outbursts, where the star experiences an increased accretion rate, and the system's luminosity increases accordingly. The archetype is the FU Orionis (FU Ori) outburst, where the accretion rate can…
We investigate how a protoplanetary disc's susceptibility to gravitational instabilities and fragmentation depends on the mass of its host star. We use 1D disc models in conjunction with 3D SPH simulations to determine the critical…
The exoplanet diversity has been linked to the disc environment in which they form, where the host star metallicity and the formation pathways play a crucial role. In the context of the core accretion paradigm, the initial stages of planet…
Both simulations and observations indicate that stars form in filamentary, hierarchically clustered associations, most of which disperse into their galactic field once feedback destroys their parent clouds. However, during their early…
Close galaxy flybys, interactions during which two galaxies inter-penetrate, are frequent and can significantly affect the evolution of individual galaxies. Equal-mass flybys are extremely rare and almost exclusively distant, while frequent…
The formation of gas giant planets must occur during the first few Myr of a star's lifetime, when the protoplanetary disc still contains sufficient gas to be accreted onto the planetary core. The majority of protoplanetary discs are exposed…
The existence of giant planets on wide orbits ($\stackrel{>}{_\sim}100$AU) challenge planet formation theories; the core accretion scenario has difficulty in forming them, whereas the disc instability model forms an overabundance of them…
I review the processes that shape the evolution of protoplanetary discs around young, solar-mass stars. I first discuss observations of protoplanetary discs, and note in particular the constraints these observations place on models of disc…
Galaxy flybys are as common as mergers in low redshift universe and are important for galaxy evolution as they involve the exchange of significant amounts of mass and energy. In this study we investigate the effect of minor flybys on the…
We present numerical simulations of planetary systems in star clusters with different initial stellar densities, to investigate the impact of the density on debris disc dynamics. We use LPS+ to combine N-body codes NBODY6++GPU and REBOUND…
Stars with circumstellar disks may form in environments with high stellar and gas densities which affects the disks through processes like truncation from dynamical encounters, ram pressure stripping, and external photoevaporation.…
Magnetic interactions between a protostar and its accretion disc tend to induce warping in the disc and produce secular changes in the stellar spin direction, so that the spin axis may not always be perpendicular to the disc. This may help…
It is often argued that gravitational instability of realistic protoplanetary discs is only possible at distances larger than $\sim 50$ au from the central star, requiring high disc masses and accretion rates, and that therefore disc…
Discs of gas and dust are ubiquitous around protostars. Hypothetical disc viscosity is thought to cause the gas and dust to accrete onto the star. Turbulence within the disc might be the source of this disc viscosity. However, observed…
The dust in the interstellar medium, that provides the material for forming stars - and circumstellar discs as a natural by-product - is known to have submicron sizes. As these discs are the sites of planet formation, those small grains are…
Planet migration within inner protoplanetary disks significantly influences exoplanet architectures. We investigate various migration mechanisms for young planets close to young stars. To quantify the stochastic migration driven by…