Issue A&A Volume 417, Number 1, April I 2004 Page(s) L25 - L28 Section Letters DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20040053

A&A 417, L25-L28 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20040053

Letter

Migration and giant planet formation

Y. Alibert, C. Mordasini and W. Benz

Physikalisches Insitut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
(Received 19 December 2003 / Accepted 10 February 2004)

Abstract
We extend the core-accretion model of giant gaseous planets by Pollack et al. ([CITE]) to include migration, disc evolution and gap formation. Starting with a core of a fraction of an Earth's mass located at 8 AU, we end our simulation with the onset of runaway gas accretion when the planet is at 5.5 AU 1 Myr later. This timescale is about a factor ten shorter than the one found by Pollack et al. ([CITE]) even though the disc was less massive initially and viscously evolving. Other initial conditions can lead to even shorter timescales. The reason for this speed-up is found to result from the fact that a moving planet does not deplete its feeding zone to the extend of a static planet. Thus, the uncomfortably long formation timescale associated with the core-accretion scenario can be considerably reduced and brought in much better agreement with the typical disc lifetimes inferred from observations of young circumstellar discs.

Key words: stars: planetary systems -- stars: planetary systems: formation -- solar system: formation

Offprint request: Y. Alibert, yann.alibert@phim.unibe.ch

© ESO 2004

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