Long-term evolution of infall-driven GI dust rings

Determine the long-term evolution of dust rings formed by infall-driven gravitational instability in massive protoplanetary discs.

Background

The simulations show that millimetre-sized dust in a self-gravitating disc subject to a finite episode of late mass infall evolves from spiral structure into multiple, long-lived pressure-supported dust rings. The simulations cover only a finite interval after infall, so the subsequent evolution, survival, migration, or dissipation of these rings remains unresolved.

References

Our work leaves several open questions for future works. What is the long-term evolution of dust rings formed by infall-driven GI?

— From spirals to rings: dust dynamics in gravitoturbulent protoplanetary discs after late infall  (2609.10375 - Baruteau et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 5, Concluding remarks

Can infall-driven dust rings lead to planetesimal formation, or even to planet formation without need for fragmentation?

— From spirals to rings: dust dynamics in gravitoturbulent protoplanetary discs after late infall  (2609.10375 - Baruteau et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 5, Concluding remarks

Are there discs for which dust and gas observations can be simultaneously explained by a past episode of late infall-driven GI?

— From spirals to rings: dust dynamics in gravitoturbulent protoplanetary discs after late infall  (2609.10375 - Baruteau et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 5, Concluding remarks