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Project: The Many Scales of Planet Formation
  • Title (NL) The Many Scales of Planet Formation
  • Period 01 / 2010 - 12 / 2012
  • Status Current
Abstract
bullet Abstract The formation of planets poses a series of unanswered questions for astrophysics. Planets are thought to form in protoplanetary discs around young stars as dust grains collide and grow to ever larger bodies. The motion of gas and dust in such discs is turbulent and fluctuating, requiring computer simulations to solve the coupled motion of gas and dust in 3-D. My previous research has shown that rocks and boulders can get strongly concentrated by the turbulence and that these overdense seeds contract under their own gravity to form planets of several 1000 kms in size. A global picture of planet formation is still missing, due to the complex interactions and many scales of the physical processes involved. For the proposed research I will attack problems of planet formation at all the relevant scales, from the full extent of the circumstellar discs, down to near the surface of the newborn planets. This approach will allow me to address fundamental questions, such as: - How does the heavy element abundance affect planet formation and can that explain the observed overabundance of heavy elements in planet-hosting stars? - How do newly formed planets rotate and how does the subsequent growth by accretion of pebbles and rocks affect the rotation? - How does the presence of dust affect the magnetised turbulence in protoplanetary discs? During the last decade more than 300 planets have been detected outside of the solar system, adding to the eight planets and many large asteroids and Kuiper belt objects orbiting our own sun. The upcoming ALMA telescope in Chile will add a wealth of information about dust and gas in protoplanetary discs. With the ever growing computational power available, this project aimed at understanding planet formation at all its scales is extremely timely.
Related organisations
bullet Secretariat Onderzoekinstituut Sterrewacht Leiden (UL)
bullet Financier NWO Exacte Wetenschappen - EW (NWO)
Related people
bullet Project leader Dr. A. Johansen
Data Supplier: NWO
Update this data in the Dutch Research Database (NOD).