Related papers: Gravitational instability in a planet-forming disk
Gravitational instabilities play an important role in galaxy evolution and in shaping the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is observed to be highly turbulent, meaning that observables like the gas surface density and velocity dispersion…
We investigate where in protoplanetary disks magnetorotational instability operates, which can cause angular momentum transport in the disks. We investigate the spatial distribution of various charged particles and the unstable regions for…
The velocity dispersion of cold interstellar gas, sigma, is one of the quantities that most radically affect the onset of gravitational instabilities in galaxy discs, and the quantity that is most drastically approximated in stability…
Gravitational instabilities play a primary role in shaping the clumpy structure and powering the star formation activity of gas-rich high-redshift galaxies. Here we analyse the stability of such systems, focusing on the size and mass ranges…
The size distribution of asteroids in the solar system suggests that they formed top-down, with 100-1000 km bodies forming from the gravitational collapse of dense clumps of small solid particles. We investigate the conditions under which…
A recent ALMA image revealed several concentric gaps in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star HL Tau. We consider the hypothesis that these gaps are carved by planets, and present a general framework for understanding the…
Growth rates for gravitational instabilities in a thick disk of gas and stars are determined for a turbulent gas that dissipates on the local crossing time. The scale heights are derived from vertical equilibrium. The accuracy of the usual…
Phases of gravitational instability are expected in the early phases of disk evolution, when the disk mass is still a substantial fraction of the mass of the star. Disk fragmentation into sub-stellar objects could occur in the cold exterior…
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…
Late-stage infall onto protoplanetary disks can produce large scale spiral arms. In this paper we used 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics and radiative transfer simulations to study the kinematic perturbations induced in disks by infalling…
Recent observations of large-scale asymmetric features in protoplanetary disks suggest that large-scale vortices exist in such disks. Massive planets are known to be able to produce deep gaps in protoplanetary disks. The gap edges could…
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…
Standard models of planet formation explain how planets form in axisymmetric, unperturbed disks in single star systems. However, it is possible that giant planets could have already formed when other planetary embryos start to grow. We…
Stars form from the gravitational collapse of turbulent, magnetized molecular cloud cores. Our non-ideal MHD simulations reveal that the intrinsically anisotropic magnetic resistance to gravity during the core collapse naturally generates…
Protoplanetary disks are quasi-steady structures whose evolution and dispersal determine the environment for planet formation. I review the theory of protoplanetary disk evolution and its connection to observations. Substantial progress has…
Planets are formed from collisional growth of small bodies in a protoplanetary disk. Bodies much larger than approximately $1$\,m are mainly controlled by the gravity of the host star and experience weak gas drag; their orbits are mainly…
Fragmentation of spiral arms can drive the formation of giant clumps and induce intense star formation in disc galaxies. Based on the spiral-arm instability analysis of our Paper I, we present linear perturbation theory of dynamical…
Fragmentation of rotating gaseous systems via gravitational instability is believed to be a crucial mechanism in several astrophysical processes, such as formation of planets in protostellar discs, of molecular clouds in galactic discs, and…
We perform 3D SPH simulations of warped, non-coplanar gravitationally unstable discs to show that as the warp propagates through the self-gravitating disc, it heats up the disc rendering it gravitationally stable. Thus losing their spiral…
Gas mass remains one of the most difficult protoplanetary disk properties to constrain. With much of the protoplanetary disk too cold for the main gas constituent, H2, to emit, alternative tracers such as dust, CO, or the H2 isotopolog HD…