Related papers: Enriching inner discs and giant planets with heavy…
Transition disks have dust-depleted inner regions and may represent an intermediate step of an on-going disk dispersal process, where planet formation is probably in progress. Recent millimetre observations of transition disks reveal…
Context: Protoplanetary disks are observed to remain dust-rich for up to several million years. Theoretical modeling, on the other hand, raises several questions. Firstly, dust coagulation occurs so rapidly, that if the small dust grains…
We investigate the dust velocity and spatial distribution in an eccentric protoplanetary disk under the secular gravitational perturbation of an embedded planet of about 5 Jupiter masses. We first employ the FARGO code to obtain the…
While conventional interior models for Jupiter and Saturn are based on the simplistic assumption of a solid core surrounded by a homogeneous gaseous envelope, we derive new models with an inhomogeneous distribution of heavy elements, i.e. a…
Observations of exoplanetary spectra are leading to unprecedented constraints on their atmospheric elemental abundances, particularly O/H, C/H, and C/O ratios. Recent studies suggest that elemental ratios could provide important constraints…
If planetesimal formation is an efficient process, as suggested by several models involving gravitational collapse of pebble clouds, then, before long, a significant part of the primordial dust mass should be absorbed in many km sized…
At least 30\% of main sequence stars host planets with sizes of between 1 and 4 Earth radii and orbital periods of less than 100 days. We use N-body simulations including a model for gas-assisted pebble accretion and disk--planet tidal…
Circumstantial evidence suggests that most known extra-solar planetary systems are survivors of violent dynamical instabilities. Here we explore how giant planet instabilities affect the formation and survival of terrestrial planets. We…
The formation of super-Earths is strongly linked to the structure of the protoplanetary disc, which determines growth and migration. In the pebble accretion scenario, planets grow to the pebble isolation mass, at which the planet carves a…
We explore in situ formation and subsequent evolution of close-in super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. We adopt a steady-state inner protoplanetary gas disc structure that arises from viscous accretion due to the magneto-rotational instability…
In principle, the combined measurements of the mass and radius a giant exoplanet allow one to determine the relative fraction of hydrogen and helium and of heavy elements in the planet. However, uncertainties on the underlying physics imply…
In the standard model of core accretion, the formation of giant planets occurs by two main processes: first, a massive core is formed by the accretion of solid material; then, when this core exceeds a critical value (typically greater than…
Volatile molecules containing hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen are key components of planetary atmospheres. In the pebble accretion model for rocky planet formation, these volatile species are accreted during the main planetary formation…
Identification of the main planet formation site is fundamental to understanding how planets form and migrate to the current locations. We consider the heavy-element content trend of observed exoplanets derived from improved measurements of…
The origin of close-in giant planets is a key open question in planet formation theory. The two leading models are (i) formation at the outer disk followed by migration and (ii) in situ formation. In this work we determine the atmospheric…
Although dust constitutes only about 1% of the mass of a protoplanetary disk, recent studies demonstrate that it can exert a significant torque on low- and intermediate-mass planetary cores. We compute and quantify for the first time the…
Protoplanetary discs exhibit a diversity of gaps and rings of dust material, believed to be a manifestation of pressure maxima commonly associated with an ongoing planet formation and several other physical processes. Hydrodynamic disc…
Protoplanetary discs are dynamic environments where the interplay between chemical processes and mass transport shapes the composition of gas and dust available for planet formation. We investigate the combined effects of volatile chemistry…
Large-scale vortices in protoplanetary disks are thought to form and survive for long periods of time. Hence, they can significantly change the global disk evolution and particularly the distribution of the solid particles embedded in the…
In protoplanetary disks, dust grains rich in metallic iron can attract each other magnetically. If they are magnetized to values near saturation, the magnetically induced collision speeds are high enough to knock off the non-magnetized,…