Planetesimal Formation without Thresholds. I: Dissipative Gravitational Instabilities and Particle Stirring by Turbulence

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 dispersion of planetesimals is pumped up by random gravitational perturbations from density fluctuations of the disk gas. When the velocity dispersion is larger than the planetesimals' surface escape velocity, collisions between planetesimals...

The initial mass function (IMF) of planetesimals is of key importance for understanding the initial stages of planet formation, yet theoretical predictions so far have been insufficient in explaining the variety of IMFs found in simulations. Here, we connect diffusion-tidal-shear limited planetesimal formation within the framework of a Toomre-like instability in the particle mid-plane of a protoplanetary disk to an analytic prediction for the planetesimal IMF. The shape of th...

We describe the diffusion and random velocities of solid particles due to stochastic forcing by turbulent gas. We include the orbital dynamics of Keplerian disks, both in-plane epicycles and vertical oscillations. We obtain a new result for the diffusion of solids. The Schmidt number (ratio of gas to particle diffusivity) is Sc = 1 + (Omega t_stop)^2, in terms of the particle stopping time, t_stop, and the orbital frequency, Omega. The standard result, Sc = 1 + t_stop/t_eddy,...

Young protostellar discs are likely to be both self-gravitating, and to support grain growth to sizes where the particles decoupled from the gas. This combination could lead to short-wavelength fragmentation of the solid component in otherwise non-fragmenting gas discs, forming Earth-mass solid cores during the Class 0/I stages of Young Stellar Object evolution. We use three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of two-fluid discs, in the regime where the St...

This document contains refereed supplementary information for the paper ``Rapid planetesimal formation in turbulent circumstellar discs''. It contains 15 sections (\S1.1 -- \S1.15) that address a number of subjects related to the main paper. We describe in detail the Poisson solver used to find the self-potential of the solid particles, including a linear and a non-linear test problem (\S1.3). Dissipative collisions remove energy from the motion of the particles by collisiona...

In the core accretion scenario, gas giant planets are formed form solid cores with several Earth masses via gas accretion. We investigate the formation of such cores via collisional growth from kilometer-sized planetesimals in turbulent disks. The stirring by forming cores induces collisional fragmentation and surrounding planetesimals are ground down until radial drift. The core growth is therefore stalled by the depletion of surrounding planetesiamls due to collisional frag...

The streaming instability is a popular candidate for planetesimal formation by concentrating dust particles to trigger gravitational collapse. However, its robustness against physical conditions expected in protoplanetary disks is unclear. In particular, particle stirring by turbulence may impede the instability. To quantify this effect, we develop the linear theory of the streaming instability with external turbulence modelled by gas viscosity and particle diffusion. We find...

Turbulence in protoplanetary disks affects planet formation in many ways. While small dust particles are mainly affected by the aerodynamical coupling with turbulent gas velocity fields, planetesimals and larger bodies are more affected by gravitational interaction with gas density fluctuations. For the latter process, a number of numerical simulations have been performed in recent years, but a fully parameter-independent understanding has not been yet established. In this st...

[Abridged] Star and planet formation are the complex outcomes of gravitational collapse and angular momentum transport mediated by protostellar and protoplanetary disks. In this review we focus on the role of gravitational instability in this process. We begin with a brief overview of the observational evidence for massive disks that might be subject to gravitational instability, and then highlight the diverse ways in which the instability manifests itself in protostellar and...

The inner-most regions of circumbinary discs are unstable to a parametric instability whose non-linear evolution is hydrodynamical turbulence. This results in significant particle stirring, impacting on planetary growth processes such as the streaming instability or pebble accretion. In this paper, we present the results of three-dimensional, inviscid global hydrodynamical simulations of circumbinary discs with embedded particles of 1 cm size. Hydrodynamical turbulence develo...