Related papers: Can giant planets form by direct gravitational ins…
We study the formation of a giant gas planet by the core--accretion gas--capture process, with numerical simulations, under the assumption that the planetary core forms in the center of an anti-cyclonic vortex. The presence of the vortex…
Direct imaging searches have begun to detect planetary and brown dwarf companions and to place constraints on the presence of giant planets at large separations from their host star. This work helps to motivate such planet searches by…
The final composition of giant planets formed as a result of gravitational instability in the disk gas depends on their ability to capture solid material (planetesimals) during their 'pre-collapse' stage, when they are extended and cold,…
We explore the initial conditions for fragments in the extended regions ($r\gtrsim 50$ AU) of gravitationally unstable disks. We combine analytic estimates for the fragmentation of spiral arms with 3D SPH simulations to show that initial…
Characterization of migration in gravitationally unstable disks is necessary to understand the fate of protoplanets formed by disk instability. As part of a larger study, we are using a 3D radiative hydrodynamics code to investigate how an…
The core-accretion and disk instability models have so far been used to explain planetary formation. These models have different conditions, such as planet mass, disk mass, and metallicity for formation of gas giants. The core-accretion…
Gas giant planets play a fundamental role in shaping the orbital architecture of planetary systems and in affecting the delivery of volatile materials to terrestrial planets in the habitable zones. Current theories of gas giant planet…
To understand giant planet formation, we need to focus on host stars close to $1.7\ \rm M_{\odot}$, where the occurrence rate of these planets is the highest. In this initial study, we carry out pebble-driven core accretion planet formation…
The large number of detected giant exoplanets offers the opportunity to improve our understanding of the formation mechanism, evolution, and interior structure of gas giant planets. The two main models for giant planet formation are core…
Giant planet embryos are believed to be spawned by gravitational instability in massive extended (R ~ 100 AU) protostellar discs. In a recent paper we have shown that dust can sediment inside the embryos, as argued earlier by Boss (1998) in…
Recent discoveries of strongly misaligned transiting exoplanets pose a challenge to the established planet formation theory which assumes planetary systems to form and evolve in isolation. However, the fact that the majority of stars…
Planet formation encompasses processes that span a remarkable 40 magnitudes in mass, ranging from collisions between micron-sized grains inherited from the ISM to the accretion of gas by giant planets. The planet formation process takes…
We present the first results from simulations of processes leading to planet formation in protoplanetary disks with different metallicities. For a given metallicity, we construct a two-dimensional grid of disk models with different initial…
We investigate the coupling between rock-size solids and gas during the formation of gas giant planets by disk fragmentation in the outer regions of massive disks. In this study, we use three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamics simulations…
The formation of planetary cores must proceed rapidly in order for the giant planets to accrete their gaseous envelopes before the dissipation of the protoplanetary gas disc (<3 Myr). In orbits beyond 10 AU, direct accumulation of…
According to the sequential accretion model, giant planet formation is based first on the formation of a solid core which, when massive enough, can gravitationally bind gas from the nebula to form the envelope. In order to trigger the…
The disk instability mechanism for giant planet formation is based on the formation of clumps in a marginally-gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disk, which must lose thermal energy through a combination of convection and radiative…
Self-gravity is important in protoplanetary disks for planet formation through gravitational instability (GI). We study the cooling effect on GI in a thin two-dimensional protoplanetary disk. By solving the linear perturbation equations in…
We propose that two of the most surprising results so far among exoplanet discoveries are related: the existences of both hot Jupiters and the high frequency of multi-planet systems with periods $P\lesssim200$~days. In this paradigm, the…
Direct imaging (DI) surveys suggest that gas giants beyond 20 AU are rare around FGK stars. However, it is not clear what this means for the formation frequency of Gravitational Instability (GI) protoplanets due to uncertainties in gap…