activity
20152026
most citedThe Mass and Size Distribution of Planetesimals Formed by the Streaming Instability. I. The Role of Self-Gravity

344 citations · 907 across the 26 of their papers we have counts for

collaborators

26 papers

astro-ph.HE2026

From Inspiral to Expansion: The Wake-Driven Torque on Binary Black Holes in Gaseous Medium

Jixuan Yang, Lile Wang, Xinyu Li +1

Binary black holes (BBHs) in gaseous medium, such as active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks, are important gravitational-wave sources, yet the gas-driven torque that governs their orb…

astro-ph.EP2026

The Edges of Planetary Systems: Falling Off the Kuiper Cliff in a Dissipating Gas Disk

Rixin Li, Eugene Chiang

Probably the last planetesimals to have formed from dust in the solar nebula are Cold Classical Kuiper belt objects (CCKBOs). To the extent that they are isolated and unchanged sin…

astro-ph.EP2026

A Comparative Study of the Streaming Instability: Unstratified Models with Marginally Coupled Grains

Stanley A. Baronett, Wladimir Lyra, Hossam Aly +19

The streaming instability is a leading mechanism for concentrating solids and initiating planetesimal formation in protoplanetary disks. Although numerous studies have explored its…

astro-ph.EP2026

Azimuthal Dust Polarization from Aerodynamically Aligned Grains as Evidence for the Streaming Instability in Protoplanetary Disks

Zhe-Yu Daniel Lin, Jeonghoon Lim, Jacob B. Simon +8

(Sub)millimeter dust polarization in protoplanetary disks has revealed the presence of large (~ 100 um) dust grains that are aligned along their long axis following the azimuthal d…

astro-ph.EP2026

Two-stage disruption of resonant chains

Nick Choksi, Yoram Lithwick, Eugene Chiang +1

TESS is enabling the discovery of transiting planets around young stars. These observations suggest that most close-in planets were born in chains of mean-motion resonances that br…

astro-ph.HE2025

On the Evolution of Disk-Embedded Binaries: Framing Local Models in Global Context

Philip Kirkeberg, Rixin Li, Martin E. Pessah

The disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have in recent years been recognized as possible sites for gravitational wave sources, leading to a series of numerical studies on the evo…

astro-ph.EP2025

Discovery of H Emission from a Protoplanet Candidate Around the Young Star 2MASS J16120668-3010270 with MagAO-X

Jialin Li, Laird M. Close, Feng Long +32

2MASS J16120668-3010270 (hereafter 2MJ1612) is a young M0 star that hosts a protoplanetary disk in the Upper Scorpious star-forming region. Recent ALMA observations of 2MJ1612 show…

astro-ph.EP2025★ 1 cited

Dust Growth in ALMA Rings: II. Dusty Rossby Wave Instability

Can Cui, Konstantin Gerbig, Ya-Ping Li +5

Annular substructures serve as ideal venues for planetesimal formation. In this series, we investigate the linear stage of dust growth within rings. The first paper examines the gl…

astro-ph.EP2024★ 1 cited

The Resonant Remains of Broken Chains from Major and Minor Mergers

Rixin Li, Eugene Chiang, Nick Choksi +1

TESS and Kepler have revealed that practically all close-in sub-Neptunes form in mean-motion resonant chains, most of which unravel on timescales of 100 Myr. Using N-body integrati…

astro-ph.EP2024★ 1 cited

The Prevalence of Resonance Among Young, Close-in Planets

Fei Dai, Max Goldberg, Konstantin Batygin +11

Multiple planets undergoing disk migration may be captured into a chain of mean-motion resonances with the innermost planet parked near the disk's inner edge. Subsequent dynamical…

astro-ph.EP2024★ 8 cited

Migration of Accreting Planets and Black Holes in Disks

JT Laune, Rixin Li, Dong Lai

Nascent planets are thought to lose angular momentum (AM) to the gaseous protoplanetary disk via gravitational interactions, leading to inward migration. A similar migration proces…

astro-ph.EP2024

Dust Accumulation near the Magnetospheric Truncation of Protoplanetary Discs. II. The Effects of Opacity and Thermal Evolution

Rixin Li, Yi-Xian Chen, Douglas N. C. Lin

Dust trapping in the global pressure bump induced by magnetospheric truncation offers a promising formation mechanism for close-in super-Earths/sub-Neptunes. These planets likely f…

astro-ph.IM2024

Emerging Researchers in Exoplanetary Science (ERES): Lessons Learned in Conference Organization for Early-Career Researchers

W. Garrett Levine, Konstantin Gerbig, Emma M. Louden +5

Since 2015, the Emerging Researchers in Exoplanetary Science (ERES) conference has provided a venue for early-career researchers in exoplanetary astronomy, astrophysics, and planet…

astro-ph.EP2023★ 2 cited

Streaming Instability and Turbulence: Conditions for Planetesimal Formation

Jeonghoon Lim, Jacob B. Simon, Rixin Li +6

The streaming instability (SI) is a leading candidate for planetesimal formation, which can concentrate solids through two-way aerodynamic interactions with the gas. The resulting…

astro-ph.HE2023★ 7 cited

Hydrodynamical Evolution of Black-Hole Binaries Embedded in AGN Discs: III. The Effects of Viscosity

Rixin Li, Dong Lai

Stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs offer a distinct dynamical channel to produce black hole mergers detected in gravitational wa…

astro-ph.EP2023★ 26 cited

Planetesimal Initial Mass Functions following Diffusion Regulated Gravitational Collapse

Konstantin Gerbig, Rixin Li

The initial mass function (IMF) of planetesimals is of key importance for understanding the initial stages of planet formation, yet theoretical predictions so far have been insuffi…

astro-ph.HE2022★ 33 cited

Hydrodynamical Evolution of Black-Hole Binaries Embedded in AGN Discs: II. Dependence on Equation of State, Binary Mass, and Separation Scales

Rixin Li, Dong Lai

Stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs offer a promising dynamical channel to produce black-hole mergers that are detectable by LIGO…

astro-ph.HE2022★ 76 cited

Hydrodynamical Evolution of Black-Hole Binaries Embedded in AGN Discs

Rixin Li, Dong Lai

Stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs are possible progenitors of black-hole mergers detected in gravitational waves by LIGO/VIRGO.…

astro-ph.EP2021★ 17 cited

Dust Accumulation near the Magnetospheric Truncation of Protoplanetary Discs around T Tauri Stars

Rixin Li, Yi-Xian Chen, Douglas N. C. Lin

The prevalence of short-period super-Earths that are independent of host metallicity challenges the theoretical construction of their origin. We propose that dust trapping in the g…

astro-ph.EP2020

Binary Planetesimal Formation from Gravitationally Collapsing Pebble Clouds

David Nesvorny, Rixin Li, Jacob B. Simon +4

Planetesimals are compact astrophysical objects roughly 1-1000 km in size, massive enough to be held together by gravity. They can grow by accreting material to become full-size pl…

astro-ph.EP2020★ 90 cited

Protoplanetary Disk Rings as Sites for Planetesimal Formation

Daniel Carrera, Jacob B. Simon, Rixin Li +2

Axisymmetric dust rings are a ubiquitous feature of young protoplanetary disks. These rings are likely caused by pressure bumps in the gas profile; a small bump can induce a traffi…

astro-ph.EP2020★ 68 cited

Turbulence Regulates the Rate of Planetesimal Formation via Gravitational Collapse

Daniel A. Gole, Jacob B. Simon, Rixin Li +2

We study how the interaction between the streaming instability and intrinsic gas-phase turbulence affects planetesimal formation via gravitational collapse in protoplanetary disks.…

astro-ph.EP2019

Trans-Neptunian Binaries as Evidence for Planetesimal Formation by the Streaming Instability

David Nesvorny, Rixin Li, Andrew N. Youdin +2

A critical step toward the emergence of planets in a protoplanetary disk consists in accretion of planetesimals, bodies 1-1000 km in size, from smaller disk constituents. This proc…

astro-ph.EP2018★ 109 cited

The Mass and Size Distribution of Planetesimals Formed by the Streaming Instability. II. The Effect of the Radial Gas Pressure Gradient

Charles P. Abod, Jacob B. Simon, Rixin Li +3

The streaming instability concentrates solid particles in protoplanetary disks, leading to gravitational collapse into planetesimals. Despite its key role in producing particle clu…