Coagulation, restructuring and fragmentation of dust grains in the protoplanetary disks: first stages of Solar System formation

The understanding of the formation of the planetary systems is one of the main topics of modern astrophysics and its study requires a synergetic effort of observations, laboratory experiments and theoretical models. It is generally accepted that planets originate in the dust disk that remains around a star after its formation (protoplanetary disk). Nevertheless there are no clear ideas on the physical conditions that are required, neither on the characteristics of the growing process of the bodies. In order to obtain a description of the phenomenon of dust aggregation, our team is working on models of coagulation, aiming to a description as much realistic as possible. The present talk is giving a panoramic overview on the puzzling subject of the first stages of planetary genesis and its open questions. We will show the development of our numerical simulator of collisions, its preliminary results and the recent comparisons with laboratory experiments.  

 

Date: 
07/07/2011 - 14:00
Speaker: 
Walter Sabolo
Filiation: 
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - CSIC


Seminars