How fast do Jupiters grow? Signatures of the snowline and growth rate in the distribution of gas giant planets

We present here observational evidence that the snowline plays a significant role in the formation and evolution of gas giant planets. When considering the population of observed exoplanets, we find a boundary in mass-semimajor axis space that suggests planets are preferentially found beyond the snowline prior to undergoing gap-opening inward migration and associated gas accretion. This is consistent with theoretical models suggesting that sudden changes in opacity -- as would occur at the snowline -- can influence core migration. Furthermore, population synthesis modelling suggests that this boundary implies that gas giant planets accrete ~ 70 % of the inward flowing gas, allowing ~ 30$ % through to the inner disc. This is qualitatively consistent with observations of transition discs suggesting the presence of inner holes, despite there being ongoing gas accretion.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Introducing a Hybrid Method of Radiative Transfer in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

We present a new method of incorporating radiative transfer into Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). There have been many recent attempts at radiative transfer in SPH (Stamatellos et al 2005, 2005, Mayer et al 2007, Whitehouse and Bate 2006), however these are becoming increasingly complex, with some methods requiring the photosphere to be mapped (which is often of non-trivial geometric shape), and extra conditions to be applied there (matching atmospheres as in Cai et al (2008), or specifying cooling at the photosphere as in Mayer et al (2007)). The method of identifying the photosphere is usually a significant addition to the total simulation runtime, and often requires extra free parameters, the changing of which will affect the final results. Our method is not affected by such concerns, as the photosphere is constructed implicitly by the algorithm without the need for extra free parameters. The algorithm used is a synergy of two current formalisms for radiative effects: a) the polytropic cooling formalism proposed by Stamatellos et al (2007), and b) flux-limited diffusion, used by many authors to simulate radiation transport in the optically thick regime (e.g. Mayer et al 2007). We present several tests of this method: (1) The evolution of a 0.07 solar mass protoplanetary disc around a 0.5 solarmass star (Pickett et al 2003, Mejia et al 2005, Boley et al 2006, Cai et al 2008); (2) The collapse of a non-rotating 1 solar mass molecular cloud (Masunaga & Inutsuka 2000, Stamatellos et al 2007); (3) The thermal relaxation of temperature fluctuations in an static homogeneous sphere (Masunaga et al 1998, Spiegel 1957, Stamatellos et al 2007)Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the Cool Stars 15 conferenc

Management of Late-Season Bean Leaf Beetles in Iowa Soybeans

The bean leaf beetle is an annual pest of soybean in Iowa. Adults feed on aboveground plant parts and are especially fond of soybean pods late in the growing season. Larvae, which are similar in appearance to com rootworm larvae, feed below the soil surface on soybean nodules, but their impact on yield or plant health is not known. In addition to the physical injury that bean leaf beetle adults cause to soybean plants, this insect also transmits bean pod mottle virus-a potentially yield-robbing plant disease that makes proper management of this insect even more critical. This paper focuses on the performance of insecticides in controlling this pest

The Quest for Cradles of Life: Using the Fundamental Metallicity Relation to Hunt for the Most Habitable Type of Galaxy

The field of astrobiology has made huge strides in understanding the habitable zones around stars (stellar habitable zones) where life can begin, sustain its existence and evolve into complex forms. A few studies have extended this idea by modeling galactic-scale habitable zones (galactic habitable zones) for our Milky Way (MW) and specific elliptical galaxies. However, estimating the habitability for galaxies spanning a wide range of physical properties has so far remained an outstanding issue. Here, we present a “cosmobiological” framework that allows us to sift through the entire galaxy population in the local universe and answer the question, “Which type of galaxy is most likely to host complex life in the cosmos?” Interestingly, the three key astrophysical criteria governing habitability (total mass in stars, total metal mass and ongoing star formation rate) are found to be intricately linked through the “fundamental metallicity relation” as shown by Sloan Digital Sky Survey observations of more than a hundred thousand galaxies in the local universe. Using this relation we show that metal-rich, shapeless giant elliptical galaxies at least twice as massive as the MW (with a tenth of its star formation rate) can potentially host ten thousand times as many habitable (Earth-like) planets, making them the most probable “cradles of life” in the universe

Binary companions triggering fragmentation in self-gravitating discs

Observations of systems hosting close in ($<1$ AU) giant planets and brown dwarfs ($M\gtrsim7$ M$_{\rm Jup}$) find an excess of binary star companions, indicating that stellar multiplicity may play an important role in their formation. There is now increasing evidence that some of these objects may have formed via fragmentation in gravitationally unstable discs. We present a suite of 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of binary star systems with circumprimary self-gravitating discs, which include a realistic approximation to radiation transport, and extensively explore the companion's orbital parameter space for configurations which may trigger fragmentation. We identify a "sweet spot" where intermediate separation binary companions ($100$ AU $\lesssim a\lesssim400$ AU) can cause a marginally stable disc to fragment. The exact range of ideal binary separations is a function of the companion's eccentricity, inclination and mass. Heating is balanced by efficient cooling, and fragmentation occurs inside a spiral mode driven by the companion. Short separation, disc penetrating binary encounters ($a\lesssim100$ AU) are prohibitive to fragmentation, as mass stripping and disc heating quench any instability. This is also true of binary companions with high orbital eccentricities ($e\gtrsim0.75$). Wide separation companions ($a\gtrsim500$ AU) have little effect on the disc properties for the setup parameters considered here. The sweet spot found is consistent with the range of binary separations which display an excess of close in giant planets and brown dwarfs. Hence we suggest that fragmentation triggered by a binary companion may contribute to the formation of these substellar objects.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA