Special Astronomy & Astrophysics Seminar: The end of runaway accretion and the final mass of gas giants

Abstract:

Giant planets grow by accreting gas from circumstellar disks that surround young stars. Why would this process stop at a Jupiter, or any other mass? One option is that gas accretion is regulated by a gap (annular density cavity) in the disk. I will revisit this idea using modern gap-opening theory and present a closed-form expression for the final mass of gas giants, along with possible observational tests.

Seminar Organizer: Dr. Omer Bromberg