Formation of brown dwarfs and planets

Brown dwarfs and massive planets have similar structures, and there is probably an overlap in mass between the most massive planets and the lowest mass brown dwarfs. This raises questions as to what extent the structures of the most massive planets and lowest mass brown dwarfs differ, and what simil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 2010-10, Vol.6 (S276), p.105-112
Main Author: Nordlund, Aake
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Brown dwarfs
Contributed Papers
Extrasolar planets
Solar system
Star & galaxy formation
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Brown dwarfs and massive planets have similar structures, and there is probably an overlap in mass between the most massive planets and the lowest mass brown dwarfs. This raises questions as to what extent the structures of the most massive planets and lowest mass brown dwarfs differ, and what similarities (or not) there might be between their formation mechanisms. Here I discuss these issues on the background of recent numerical simulations of star formation, new evidence from cosmochemistry about the conditions in the early solar system, and recently discovered mechanisms that can expedite planetesimal and possibly planet formation greatly.
ISSN:1743-9213
1743-9221
DOI:10.1017/S1743921311020023