Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks

Details Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks

Aug 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007natur.448.1022j&link_type=abstract

Nature, Volume 448, Issue 7157, pp. 1022-1025 (2007).

Computer Science

226

Scientific paper

During the initial stages of planet formation in circumstellar gas disks, dust grains collide and build up larger and larger bodies. How this process continues from metre-sized boulders to kilometre-scale planetesimals is a major unsolved problem: boulders are expected to stick together poorly, and to spiral into the protostar in a few hundred orbits owing to a `headwind' from the slower rotating gas. Gravitational collapse of the solid component has been suggested to overcome this barrier. But even low levels of turbulence will inhibit sedimentation of solids to a sufficiently dense midplane layer, and turbulence must be present to explain observed gas accretion in protostellar disks. Here we report that boulders can undergo efficient gravitational collapse in locally overdense regions in the midplane of the disk. The boulders concentrate initially in transient high pressure regions in the turbulent gas, and these concentrations are augmented a further order of magnitude by a streaming instability driven by the relative flow of gas and solids. We find that gravitationally bound clusters form with masses comparable to dwarf planets and containing a distribution of boulder sizes. Gravitational collapse happens much faster than radial drift, offering a possible path to planetesimal formation in accreting circumstellar disks.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar disks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1795727