Related papers: The Dissolution of Planetesimals in Electrostatic …
When the EPOXI spacecraft flew by Comet 103P/Hartley 2, it observed large particles floating around the comet nucleus. These particles are likely low-density, centimeter- to decimeter-sized clumps of ice and dust. While the origin of these…
We investigate the formation of planetesimals via the gravitational instability of solids that have settled to the midplane of a circumstellar disk. Vertical shear between the gas and a subdisk of solids induces turbulent mixing which…
We introduce a new Lagrangian smooth-particle method to model the growth and drift of pebbles in protoplanetary disks. The Lagrangian nature of the model makes it especially suited to follow characteristics of individual (groups of)…
Planetary systems form in gas-dust protoplanetary discs via the growth of solid bodies. In this paper, we show that the most intriguing stage of such growth --- namely, the transformation of 1-10 m boulders into kilometre-sized…
Main sequence stars are commonly surrounded by debris disks, composed of cold dust continuously replenished by a reservoir of undetected dust-producing planetesimals. In a planetary system with a belt of planetesimals (like the Solar…
We develop a simple model to predict the radial distribution of planetesimal formation. The model is based on the observed growth of dust to mm-sized particles, which drift radially, pile-up, and form planetesimals where the stopping time…
We show that small solids in low mass, turbulent protoplanetary disks collect into self-gravitating rings. Growth is faster than disk lifetimes and radial drift times for moderately strong turbulence, characterized by dimensionless…
Protoplanetary disks (PPDs) surrounding young stars are short-lived (~0.3-10 Myr), compact (~10-1000 AU) rotating reservoirs of gas and dust. PPDs are believed to be birthplaces of planetary systems, where tiny grains are assembled into…
Observations of protoplanetary discs have revealed dust rings which are likely due to the presence of pressure bumps in the disc. Because these structures tend to trap drifting pebbles, it has been proposed that pressure bumps may play an…
In the classical core-accretion planet formation scenario, rapid inward migration and accretion timescales of kilometer size planetesimals may not favor the formation of massive cores of giant planets before the dissipation of…
Planetesimal formation likely lasted for millions of years in the solar nebula, and the cold classicals in the Kuiper Belt are suggested to be the direct products of streaming instability. The presence of minor planetary bodies in the outer…
Surfaces of planetary bodies can have strong electric fields, subjecting conductive grains to repulsive electrostatic forces. This has been proposed as mechanism to eject grains from the ground. To quantify this process, we study mm-sized…
The formation of solid macroscopic grains (pebbles) in protoplanetary discs is the first step toward planet formation. We aim to study the distribution of pebbles and the chemical composition of their ice mantles in a young protoplanetary…
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…
We study particle dynamics in self-gravitating gaseous discs with a simple cooling law prescription via two-dimensional simulations in the shearing sheet approximation. It is well known that structures arising in the gaseous component of…
About $20\%$ of exoplanets discovered by radial velocity surveys reside in stellar binaries. To clarify their origin one has to understand the dynamics of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks within binaries. The standard description,…
Planet formation occurs within the gas and dust rich environments of protoplanetary disks. Observations of these objects show that the growth of primordial sub micron sized particles into larger aggregates occurs at the earliest stages of…
The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'')…
Extensive photometric stellar surveys show that many main sequence stars show emission at infrared and longer wavelengths that is in excess of the stellar photosphere; this emission is thought to arise from circumstellar dust. The presence…
Rapid orbital drift of macroscopic dust particles is one of the major obstacles against planetesimal formation in protoplanetary disks. We reexamine this problem by considering porosity evolution of dust aggregates. We apply a porosity…