arXiv · astro-ph/0311048
Giant planet formation from disk instability; cooling and heating
Abstract
We present the results of high resolution SPH simulations of the evolution of gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disks. We report on calculations in which the disk is evolved using a locally isothermal or adiabatic equation of state (with shock heating), and also on new simulations in which cooling and heating by radiation are explicitly modeled. We find that disks with a minimum Toomre parameter $< 1.4$ fragment into several gravitationally bound protoplanets with masses from below to a few Jupiter masses. This is confirmed also in runs where the disk is given a quiet start, growing gradually in mass over several orbital times. A cooling time comparable to the orbital time is needed to achieve fragmentation, for disk masses in the range $0.08-0.1 M_{\odot}$. After about 30 orbital times, merging between the bound condensations always leads to 2-3 protoplanets on quite eccentric orbits.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Lucio Mayer, James Wadsley, Thomas Quinn, Joachim Stadel. 2003-11-03. Giant planet formation from disk instability; cooling and heating. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0311048
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.