Related papers: The effect of Semi-Collisional Accretion on Planet…
The final stage of terrestrial planet formation is known as the giant impact stage where protoplanets collide with one another to form planets. So far this stage has been mainly investigated by N-body simulations with an assumption of…
Most major planetary bodies in the solar system rotate in the same direction as their orbital motion: their spin is prograde. Theoretical studies to explain the direction as well as the magnitude of the spin vector have had mixed success.…
The formation of a solar system is believed to have followed a multi-stage process around a protostar. Whipple first noted that planetesimal growth by particle agglomeration is strongly influenced by gas drag; there is a "bottleneck" at the…
We review the basic dynamics and accretion of planetesimals by showing N-body simulations. The orbits of planetesimals evolve through two-body gravitational relaxation: viscous stirring increases the random velocity and dynamical friction…
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…
Formation of terrestrial planets by agglomeration of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks sensitively depends on the velocity evolution of planetesimals. We describe a novel semi-analytical approach to the treatment of planetesimal…
In models of planetary accretion, pebbles form by dust coagulation and rapidly migrate toward the central star. Planetesimals may continuously form from pebbles over the age of the protoplanetary disk by yet uncertain mechanisms. Meanwhile,…
Planets grow via the collisional accretion of small bodies in a protoplanetary disk. Such small bodies feel strong gas drag and their orbits are significantly affected by the gas flow and atmospheric structure around the planet. We…
An unsolved issue in the standard core accretion model for gaseous planet formation is how kilometre-sized planetesimals form from, initially, micron-sized dust grains. Solid growth beyond metre sizes can be difficult both because the…
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…
Remnant planetesimals might have played an important role in reducing the orbital eccentricities of the terrestrial planets after their formation via giant impacts. However, the population and the size distribution of remnant planetesimals…
Morbidelli, Kleine & Nimmo (2024) (MKN) recently published a critical analysis on whether the terrestrial planets in the Solar System formed by rapid pebble accretion or by the classical route of multiple giant impacts between planetary…
Formation models in which terrestrial bodies grow via the pairwise accretion of planetesimals have been reasonably successful at reproducing the general properties of the solar system, including small body populations. However, planetesimal…
We perform hydrodynamical simulations of the accretion of pebbles and rocks onto protoplanets of a few hundred kilometres in radius, including two-way drag force coupling between particles and the protoplanetary disc gas. Particle streams…
We study the conditions for collisions between planetesimals to be accretional or disruptive in turbulent disks, through analytical arguments based on fluid dynamical simulations and orbital integrations. In turbulent disks, the velocity…
The formation mechanism of planetesimals in protoplanetary discs is hotly debated. Currently, the favoured model involves the accumulation of meter-sized objects within a turbulent disc, followed by a phase of gravitational instability. At…
Exoplanet observations have shown that the occurrence and orbital architectures of close-in super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are shaped by the presence of outer gas giant planets. This influence may emerge during the formation stage or from…
Pebble accretion is a new mechanism to quickly grow the cores of planets. In pebble accretion, gravity and gas drag conspire to yield large collisional cross sections for small particles in protoplanetary disks. However, before pebble…
In this paper we consider the evolution of small planetesimals in marginally stable, self-gravitating protoplanetary discs. The drag force between the disc gas and the embedded planetesimals generally causes the planetesimals to drift…
The existence of planets born in environments highly perturbed by a stellar companion represents a major challenge to the paradigm of planet formation. In numerical simulations, the presence of a close binary companion stirs up the relative…