The outer bound of planet formation

In this project we shall use HPC simulations to address planet formation via gravitational instability (GI) concurrent with stellar binary formation [Fig 2]. Past simulations focused mainly on gas giant planets formed around single stars. Such simulations show how gas giants formed by GI can be tidally disrupted to become lower mass planets.

On the opposite end of the scale, some planets survive and manage to accrete so much gas as to grow into low mass stars. These (secondary) stars then eject most of the lower mass objects from the system.

This model can therefore account for both low mass FFPs detected by microlensing, and the high mass FFPs detected by direct imaging. The challenge is to quantify these simulations up and to compare them with a wide array of observations.