Recent molecular line observations of the young AB Aurigae star system have revealed intriguing velocity structures that may offer direct evidence for a long-hypothesized mode of planet formation known as gravitational instability, where planets form rapidly through direct gravitational collapse. In addition, optical, infrared, and millimeter images show a planet-sized clump at roughly twice the scale of the Solar System, roughly 90 astronomical units (AU, the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), surrounded by a ring of pebbles at ~150 AU and marked by striking spiral arms in the surrounding disk. This team of researchers will generate computer simulations that integrate multiple physical processes, including gas and dust dynamics, heating and cooling from starlight, and the system’s own gravity. They will train a graduate student and will also communicate with the public through regular astronomy columns and podcasts. The column reaches a readership of 30,000, and is contributed to by faculty and students, aiming to become a sustained effort by the New Mexico State University Department of Astronomy to promote public science literacy. A science outreach program and observatory tour for the public will be regularly scheduled at the University of Georgia. The team will determine whether the AB Aurigae system can be modeled self-consistently via gravitational instability in a protoplanetary disk. The team will employ dusty smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) us