Modelling bipolar jet outflows, dust transport and radiative transfer in protoplanetary discs

This thesis demonstrates how dust in the collapsing clouds of material from which stars and planets form is transported by jets and winds from the innermost, hot regions nearest the nascent star out to the cold regions where comets form. Gravitational acceleration and aerodynamic drag on the dust particles sorts them according to the product of their radius and density, with the largest and densest dust particles “raining-out” nearest the protostar, while the smallest, least dense particles rain-out furthest from the protostar, thereby explaining the presence of crystalline silicate particles in volatile cometary material.