Self-consistent coupling of cloud collapse and disc evolution

Develop fully coupled, high-resolution simulations that connect molecular-cloud collapse to infall-driven gravitational instability in protoplanetary discs, so that the infalling flow is determined self-consistently by the environment rather than imposed as a boundary condition.

Background

Current disc calculations often prescribe the rate and geometry of infall at the boundary. Such prescriptions cannot capture how the parental molecular-cloud environment determines the angular momentum, spatial distribution, and time dependence of material arriving at the disc.

The review identifies coupling disc-scale models to large-scale cloud-collapse simulations as necessary for a complete account of how the environment controls early planet formation.

References

Finally, a full understanding of infall-driven GI requires coupling high-resolution disc models with large-scale simulations of molecular cloud collapse (;), so that the properties of the infalling flow are self-consistently determined by the environment rather than prescribed as boundary conditions.

— Gravitational instability in planet-forming discs  (2609.05080 - Longarini et al., 4 Sep 2026) in Section 5.1.1, Theoretical perspective, p. 20