Paper detail

Planet-disk interaction and orbital evolution

As planets form and grow within gaseous protoplanetary disks, the mutual gravitational interaction between the disk and planet leads to the exchange of angular momentum, and migration of the planet. We review current understanding of disk-planet interactions, focussing in particular on physical processes that determine the speed and direction of migration. We describe the evolution of low mass planets embedded in protoplanetary disks, and examine the influence of Lindblad and corotation torques as a function of the disk properties. The role of the disk in causing the evolution of eccentricities and inclinations is also discussed. We describe the rapid migration of intermediate mass planets that may occur as a runaway process, and examine the transition to gap formation and slower migration driven by the viscous evolution of the disk for massive planets. The roles and influence of disk self-gravity and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence are discussed in detail, as a function of the planet mass, as is the evolution of multiple planet systems. Finally, we address the question of how well global models of planetary formation that include migration are able to match observations of extrasolar planets.