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OATS-DAUT SEMINAR
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Speaker: Giuseppe Lodato (University of Leicester)

Title: Some issues on planet formation theory

Date: Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Time: 12:00
Venue: Villa Bazzoni

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Abstract: During the last ten years, hundreds of extra-solar planets have been discovered, thus providing us with an ever growing sample of systems to compare our theoretical modeling of the process of planet formation with. Planet formation is a complex phenomenon, which involves several dynamical, fluid dynamical, MHD and chemical processes. While the general picture in which planets form mostly within the circumstellar accretion discs surrounding young stars is generally accepted, a few outstanding issues are still in place. The leading theory of planet formation, called the 'core accretion' model, has been sometimes challenged by the alternative 'gravitational instability' model. In this talk, I will discuss merits and backdraws of these two models, in the light of the results of recent numerical simulations of the dynamics of circumstellar discs. I will finish by discussing the predictions of the core accretion model about the potential for planet formation around extremely low mass stars and brown dwarfs, around which it has been recently claimed to have observed the first extra-solar 'planet' seen in imaging.
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contact: Pierluigi Monaco (DAUT)