Related papers: Accretion in the Early Kuiper Belt II. Fragmentati…
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…
Pebble accretion is the leading theory for the formation of exoplanets more massive than the Earth. Many parameters influence planet growth in the pebble accretion models. In this paper, we study the influence of pebble fragmentation…
We have investigated the planetesimal accretion rate onto giant planets that are growing through gas accretion, using numerical simulations and analytical arguments. We derived the condition for gap opening in the planetesimal disk, which…
We explore the dynamics of small planetesimals coexisting with massive protoplanetary cores in a gaseous nebula. Gas drag strongly affects the motion of small bodies leading to the decay of their eccentricities and inclinations, which are…
The core accretion theory of planet formation has at least two fundamental problems explaining the origins of Uranus and Neptune: (1) dynamical times in the trans-Saturnian solar nebula are so long that core growth can take > 15 Myr, and…
The first stage of planet formation is the accumulation of dust and ice grains into mm-cm-sized pebbles. These pebbles can clump together through the streaming instability and form gravitationally bound pebble 'clouds'. Pebbles inside such…
During planet formation, numerous small impacting bodies result in cratering impacts on large target bodies. A fraction of the target surface is eroded, while a fraction of the impactor material accretes onto the surface. These fractions…
The Classical Kuiper Belt is populated by a group of objects with low inclination orbits, reddish colors and usually belonging to a binary system. This so called Cold Classical Kuiper Belt is considered to have been formed in situ from…
The presence of an early-formed giant planet in the protoplanetary disk has mixed influence on the growth of other planetary embryos. Gravitational perturbation from the planet can increase the relative velocities of planetesimals at the…
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…
Kuiper belt objects show an unexpected trend, whereby large bodies have increasingly higher densities, up to five times greater than their smaller counterparts. Current explanations for this trend assume formation at constant composition,…
A group of newly observed extreme trans-Neptunian objects exhibit unexpected orbital confinement, characterized by the alignment of orbital angular momentum vectors and apsidal lines. It is proposed that an undiscovered giant planet, named…
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…
We investigate classical planetesimal accretion in a binary star system of separation ab<50AU by numerical simulations, with particular focus on the region at a distance of 1 AU from the primary. The planetesimals orbit the primary, are…
Containing only a few percent the mass of the moon, the current asteroid belt is around three to four orders of magnitude smaller that its primordial mass inferred from disk models. Yet dynamical studies have shown that the asteroid belt…
The Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of planets with radii $<4\ R_\oplus$, paving the way for the first statistical studies of the dynamics, formation, and evolution of these sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. Planetary masses are an…
We report the results of our three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulation of collapsing unmagnetized molecular cloud cores. We investigate the formation and evolution of the circumstellar disk and the clumps formed by disk…
We investigate planetary accretion that starts from equal-mass planetesimals using an analytic theory and numerical simulations. We particularly focus on how the planetary mass $M_{\rm oli}$ at the onset of oligarchic growth depends on the…
It is widely held that the first step in forming the gas giant planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, is to form solid `cores' of roughly 10 M$_\oplus$. Getting the cores to form before the solar nebula dissipates ($\sim\!1-10\,$Myr) has been…
Aims. In the context of the core instability model, we present calculations of in situ giant planet formation. The oligarchic growth regime of solid protoplanets is the model adopted for the growth of the core. Methods. The full…