# Testing Disk Instability Models for Giant Planet Formation

## TL;DR

This paper evaluates the disk instability model for giant planet formation, addressing previous concerns, testing model robustness under various conditions, and reaffirming its plausibility as a formation mechanism.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of disk instability models, testing their robustness against different parameters and clarifying previous misconceptions about molecular hydrogen behavior.

## Key findings

- Disk instability remains a plausible giant planet formation mechanism.
- Addressed concerns about adiabatic exponent effects on clump formation.
- Explored effects of pressure and temperature profiles on model outcomes.

## Abstract

Disk instability is an attractive yet controversial means for the rapid formation of giant planets in our solar system and elsewhere. Recent concerns regarding the first adiabatic exponent of molecular hydrogen gas are addressed and shown not to lead to spurious clump formation in the author's disk instability models. A number of disk instability models have been calculated in order to further test the robustness of the mechanism, exploring the effects of changing the pressure equation of state, the vertical temperature profile, and other parameters affecting the temperature distribution. Possible reasons for differences in results obtained by other workers are discussed. Disk instability remains as a plausible formation mechanism for giant planets.