Related papers: Can giant planets form by direct gravitational ins…
We use a semi-analytic circumstellar disk model that considers movement of the snow line through evolution of accretion and the central star to investigate how gas giant frequency changes with stellar mass. The snow line distance changes…
Planets are built from planetesimals: solids larger than a kilometer which grow by colliding pairwise. Planetesimals themselves are unlikely to form by two-body collisions; sub-km objects have gravitational fields individually too weak, and…
Core accretion and disk instability require giant protoplanets to form in the presence of disk gas. Protoplanet migration models generally assume disk masses low enough that the disk's self-gravity can be neglected. However, disk…
We show that planet formation via both gravitational collapse and core accretion is unlikely to occur in equal mass binary systems with moderate (~ 50 AU) semi-major axes. Internal thermal energy generation in the disks is sufficient to…
Context. The model of disc fragmentation due to gravitational instabilities offers an alternate formation mechanism for gas giant planets, especially those on wide orbits. Aims. Our goal is to determine the 3D structure of disc-instability…
Our recent N-body simulations of planetary system formation, incorporating models for the main physical processes thought to be important during the building of planets (i.e. gas disc evolution, migration, planetesimal/boulder accretion,…
Celestial bodies with a mass of M ~ 10 M_Jup have been found orbiting nearby stars. It is unknown whether these objects formed like gas-giant planets through core accretion or like stars through gravitational instability. I show that…
Modern studies of the early solar system routinely invoke the possibility of an orbital instability among the giant planets triggered by gravitational interactions between the planets and a massive exterior disk of planetesimals. Previous…
We present a parameter study of the possibility of tidally triggered disk instability. Using a restricted N-body model which allows for a survey of an extended parameter space, we show that a passing dwarf star with a mass between 0.1 and 1…
Although it is fairly established that Gravitational Instability (GI) should occur in the early phases of the evolution of a protoplanetary disk, the fate of the clumps resulting from disk fragmentation and their role in planet formation is…
Planets are thought to form in the gas and dust disks around young stars. In particular, it has been proposed that giant planets can form through the gravitational instability of massive extended disks around intermediate-mass stars.…
Searches for young gas giant planets at wide separations have so far focused on techniques appropriate for compact (Jupiter sized) planets. Here we point out that protoplanets born through Gravitational Instability (GI) may remain in an…
Evidence of mutually inclined planetary orbits has been reported for giant planets these last years. Here we aim to study the impact of eccentric and inclined massive giant planets on the terrestrial planet formation process, and…
In protoplanetary disks the aerodynamical friction between particles and gas induces a variety of instabilities that facilitate planet formation. Of these we examine the so-called `secular gravitational instability' (SGI) in the two-fluid…
The initial stages of planet formation in circumstellar gas discs proceed via dust grains that collide and build up larger and larger bodies (Safronov 1969). How this process continues from metre-sized boulders to kilometre-scale…
Gas giant planets may form early-on during the evolution of protostellar discs, while these are relatively massive. We study how Jupiter-mass planet-seeds (termed protoplanets) evolve in massive, but gravitationally stable (Q>1.5), discs…
Post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) binary stars are evolved systems that host circumbinary discs formed through mass loss during late stage binary interactions. Their structural, morphological, kinematic, and chemical similarities to…
Recent observations of the protoplanetary disc surrounding AB Aurigae have revealed the possible presence of two giant planets in the process of forming. The young measured age of $1-4$Myr for this system allows us to place strict time…
Gas-giant planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn and massive exoplanets, were formed via the gas accretion onto the solid cores each with a mass of roughly ten Earth masses. However, rapid radial migration due to disk-planet interaction prevents…
Transitional disks, protoplanetary disks with deep and wide central gaps, may be the result of planetary sculpting. By comparing numerical planet-opening-gap models with observed gaps, we find systems of 3-6 giant planets are needed in…