Project description
Revolutionising our grasp of planetary birth
Planet formation is a puzzle we have yet to solve. Despite there being one planet per star on average, we do not fully understand how they form. Current models miss crucial early-stage dynamics. With this in mind, the ERC-funded EARLYBIRD project aims to track material composition from initial disks to planets, using innovative 3D modelling techniques. From the influence of streamers on disk evolution to compositional changes during planet formation, EARLYBIRD promises to unveil observable signatures in exoplanets and older disks. This groundbreaking endeavour not only advances planetary science, but also lays the groundwork for efficient modelling in related fields.
Objective
With one planet per star on average, planet formation must be a robust process. Yet, surprisingly, we still do not fully understand how planet formation works. Current models for planet formation usually assume pre-existing smooth disks and homogeneously distributed planetesimals of arbitrary composition. In contrast, recent results highlight the crucial role of early stage disk sub-structure, inhomogeneous accretion, and carbon depletion processes on the final planetary systems. Until now, adequate techniques to model these dynamic, complex systems in a computationally cost-efficient way were lacking.
The overall aim of EARLYBIRD is therefore to overcome this bottleneck and track the planet-building material and its composition through the initial formation of disks into the populations of planetesimals and planets and to reveal in which ways these processes are observable in older disks and exoplanets. The project concretely will 1) determine the global effects of streamers/sustained infall on early evolution of disks and planet formation, 2) study how outbursts and dust evolution interact and determine the effect of high dust-to-gas ratio infall on planetesimal formation, 3) track compositonal changes (e.g. carbon, CO, water) during planet formation and 4) decipher the observable properties all these scenarios imprint in the distribution and composition of small dust, planetesimals, and planets.
Based on my pioneering work on disk particle growth and transport, EARLYBIRD will utilize highly innovative 3D modeling techniques, which are unique in being calibrated against full coagulation models and still are two magnitudes faster than a full solver. The project will thereby not only enable me to fully exploit the information imprinted by the disk formation stages on planet formation, but also pave the way for cost-efficient 3D-modeling of dynamic systems in neighboring fields.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany