RUI & Collaborative Research: Planet Embryos in Vortex Wombs: Simulations of Gas, Dust and Magnetic Fields in Protoplanetary Disks and the Formation of Planets

该奖项将支持一项关于行星形成早期阶段的理论研究，即毫米大小的颗粒如何成长为直径约1公里的物体。这项工作有三个主要目标：(1)计算不稳定性对原行星盘中尘埃层的影响；(2)探索分层原行星盘中三维涡旋的形成和演化；(3)模拟尘埃颗粒在三维涡旋中的捕获和行星体的形成。这些研究将使用这个团队开发的数字代码进行。这个团队将在两个机构建立一个联合研究团队，从本科生到高级研究人员，所有阶段的人都将参与其中。研究人员还将与旧金山师范学院和耶鲁国家倡议合作开发课程。

This award will support a theoretical investigation of an early phase in the formation of planets, namely how millimeter-sized grains grow into objects that are about 1 kilometer in diameter. There are three main goals to this effort: (1) calculating the effects of instabilities on dust layers in protoplanetary disks; (2) exploring the formation and evolution of three-dimensional vortices in stratified protoplanetary disks; and (3) modeling the trapping of dust grains in three-dimensional vortices and the formation of planetesimals. These studies will be done using numerical codes developed by this team.This group will establish a joint research team at both institutions that will involve people at all stages from undergraduate studies through senior researchers. The researchers will also engage in curriculum development in partnership with the San Francisco Teachers Institute and with the Yale National Initiative.