Stars & Planets Group Numerical Modelling of Planet Formation With over two hundred extrasolar planets discovered in the past ten years, it is becoming increasingly important to study the planet formation process. There is an ongoing project at Swinburne to numerically study the earliest stages of the process in which micron size dust particles aggregate together to form metre size boulders that form the base material for planets. We have a unique 3D, two-phase (dust+gas) hydrodynamics code, which includes gas pressure, viscosity, drag, self-gravity and a range of equations of state. We are interested in the global evolution of the dust within protoplanetary disks; how vertical settling and radial migration effects the timescales and locations of planet formation; how grains grow within protoplanetary disks and how grain growth effects the evolution and observational signatures of disks; and the effect of an embedded planet in a dusty-gas disks and the observational signatures of these effects. References: Laibe, Gonzalez, Fouchet, Maddison (2007), 3D SPH Simulations of Grain Growth in Protoplaneary Disks, SF2A 2007, ed. J. Bouvier, A. Chalabaev & C. Charonnel Fouchet, Maddison, Gonzalez, Murray (2007), The effect of a planet on the dust distribution in a 3D protoplanetary disk, Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press Maddison, Fouchet, Gonzalez (2007), Gap Formation in the Dust Layer of 3D Protoplanetary Disks, Astrophysics & Space Science, in press Scientists plug gap in how planets form, ABC Science Online Barriere-Fouchet, Gonzalez, Murray, Humble, Maddison (2005), Dust distribution in protoplanetary disks: Vertical settling and radial migration, A&A, 443, p185 Barriere-Fouchet, Pinte, Menard, Gonzalez, Maddison (2004), Towards measuring dust settling in protoplanetary disks, EdP-SCS, p269 Barriere-Fouchet, Humble, Maddison, Gonzalez, Murray (2003), Predicting Dust Distribution in Protoplanetary Disks, IAU Symp 221 Maddison, Humble, Murray (2003), Building Planets with Dusty Gas, ASP-CS, 294, p307