3,864 research outputs found
Mapping the Conditions for Hydrodynamic Instability on Steady State Accretion Models of Protoplanetary Disks
Hydrodynamical instabilities in disks around young stars depend on the
thermodynamic stratification of the disk and on the local rate of thermal
relaxation. Here, we map the spatial extent of unstable regions for the
Vertical Shear Instability (VSI), the Convective OverStability (COS), and the
amplification of vortices via the Subcritical Baroclinic Instability (SBI). We
use steady state accretion disk models, including stellar irradiation,
accretion heating and radiative transfer. We determine the local radial and
vertical stratification and thermal relaxation rate in the disk, in dependence
of the stellar mass, disk mass and mass accretion rate. We find that passive
regions of disks - i.e. the midplane temperature dominated by irradiation - are
COS unstable about one pressure scale height above the midplane and VSI
unstable at radii . Vortex amplification via SBI should
operate in most parts of active and passive disks. For active parts of disks
(midplane temperature determined by accretion power) COS can become active down
to the midplane. Same is true for the VSI because of the vertically adiabatic
stratification of an internally heated disk. If hydro instabilities or other
non-ideal MHD processes are able to create -stresses () and
released accretion energy leads to internal heating of the disk, hydrodynamical
instabilities are likely to operate in significant parts of the planet forming
zones in disks around young stars, driving gas accretion and flow structure
formation. Thus hydro-instabilities are viable candidates to explain the rings
and vortices observed with ALMA and VLT.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
The Role of the Cooling Prescription for Disk Fragmentation: Numerical Convergence & Critical Cooling Parameter in Self-Gravitating Disks
Protoplanetary disks fragment due to gravitational instability when there is
enough mass for self-gravitation, described by the Toomre parameter, and when
heat can be lost at a rate comparable to the local dynamical timescale,
described by t_c=beta Omega^-1. Simulations of self-gravitating disks show that
the cooling parameter has a rough critical value at beta_crit=3. When below
beta_crit, gas overdensities will contract under their own gravity and fragment
into bound objects while otherwise maintaining a steady state of
gravitoturbulence. However, previous studies of the critical cooling parameter
have found dependence on simulation resolution, indicating that the simulation
of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks is not so straightforward. In
particular, the simplicity of the cooling timescale t_c prevents fragments from
being disrupted by pressure support as temperatures rise. We alter the cooling
law so that the cooling timescale is dependent on local surface density
fluctuations, a means of incorporating optical depth effects into the local
cooling of an object. For lower resolution simulations, this results in a lower
critical cooling parameter and a disk more stable to gravitational stresses
suggesting the formation of large gas giants planets in large, cool disks is
generally suppressed by more realistic cooling. At our highest resolution
however, the model becomes unstable to fragmentation for cooling timescales up
to beta = 10.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
The baroclinic instability in the context of layered accretion. Self-sustained vortices and their magnetic stability in local compressible unstratified models of protoplanetary disks
Turbulence and angular momentum transport in accretion disks remains a topic
of debate. With the realization that dead zones are robust features of
protoplanetary disks, the search for hydrodynamical sources of turbulence
continues. A possible source is the baroclinic instability (BI), which has been
shown to exist in unmagnetized non-barotropic disks. We present shearing box
simulations of baroclinicly unstable, magnetized, 3D disks, in order to assess
the interplay between the BI and other instabilities, namely the
magneto-rotational instability (MRI) and the magneto-elliptical instability. We
find that the vortices generated and sustained by the baroclinic instability in
the purely hydrodynamical regime do not survive when magnetic fields are
included. The MRI by far supersedes the BI in growth rate and strength at
saturation. The resulting turbulence is virtually identical to an MRI-only
scenario. We measured the intrinsic vorticity profile of the vortex, finding
little radial variation in the vortex core. Nevertheless, the core is disrupted
by an MHD instability, which we identify with the magneto-elliptic instability.
This instability has nearly the same range of unstable wavelengths as the MRI,
but has higher growth rates. In fact, we identify the MRI as a limiting case of
the magneto-elliptic instability, when the vortex aspect ratio tends to
infinity (pure shear flow). We conclude that vortex excitation and
self-sustenance by the baroclinic instability in protoplanetary disks is viable
only in low ionization, i.e., the dead zone. Our results are thus in accordance
with the layered accretion paradigm. A baroclinicly unstable dead zone should
be characterized by the presence of large-scale vortices whose cores are
elliptically unstable, yet sustained by the baroclinic feedback. As magnetic
fields destroy the vortices and the MRI outweighs the BI, the active layers are
unmodified.Comment: 19+3 pages, 20+1 figures. Accepted by A&A, final versio
The Global Baroclinic Instability in Accretion Disks. II: Local Linear Analysis
This paper contains a local linear stability analysis for accretion disks
under the influence of a global radial entropy gradient beta = - d log T / d
log r for constant surface density. Numerical simulations suggested the
existence of an instability in two- and three-dimensional models of the solar
nebula. The present paper tries to clarify, quantify, and explain such a global
baroclinic instability for two-dimensional flat accretion disk models. As a
result linear theory predicts a transient linear instability that will amplify
perturbations only for a limited time or up to a certain finite amplification.
This can be understood as a result of the growth time of the instability being
longer than the shear time which destroys the modes which are able to grow. So
only non-linear effects can lead to a relevant amplification. Nevertheless, a
lower limit on the entropy gradient ~beta = 0.22 for the transient linear
instability is derived, which can be tested in future non-linear simulations.
This would help to explain the observed instability in numerical simulations as
an ultimate result of the transient linear instability, i.e. the Global
Baroclinic Instability.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures; ApJ in pres
High-resolution simulations of planetesimal formation in turbulent protoplanetary discs
We present high-resolution computer simulations of dust dynamics and
planetesimal formation in turbulence generated by the magnetorotational
instability. We show that the turbulent viscosity associated with
magnetorotational turbulence in a non-stratified shearing box increases when
going from 256^3 to 512^3 grid points in the presence of a weak imposed
magnetic field, yielding a turbulent viscosity of at high
resolution. Particles representing approximately meter-sized boulders
concentrate in large-scale high-pressure regions in the simulation box. The
appearance of zonal flows and particle concentration in pressure bumps is
relatively similar at moderate (256^3) and high (512^3) resolution. In the
moderate-resolution simulation we activate particle self-gravity at a time when
there is little particle concentration, in contrast with previous simulations
where particle self-gravity was activated during a concentration event. We
observe that bound clumps form over the next ten orbits, with initial birth
masses of a few times the dwarf planet Ceres. At high resolution we activate
self-gravity during a particle concentration event, leading to a burst of
planetesimal formation, with clump masses ranging from a significant fraction
of to several times the mass of Ceres. We present a new domain decomposition
algorithm for particle-mesh schemes. Particles are spread evenly among the
processors and the local gas velocity field and assigned drag forces are
exchanged between a domain-decomposed mesh and discrete blocks of particles. We
obtain good load balancing on up to 4096 cores even in simulations where
particles sediment to the mid-plane and concentrate in pressure bumps.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, with some
changes in response to referee repor
Pebble trapping backreaction does not destroy vortices
The formation of planets remains one of the most challenging problems of
contemporary astrophysics. Starting with micron-sized dust grains, coagulation
models predict growth up to centimeter (pebbles), but growth beyond this size
is difficult because of fragmentation and drift. Ways to bypass this problem
have focused on inhomogeneities in the flow, be that zonal flows, streaming
instability, or vortices. Because vortices are in equilibrium between the
Coriolis and the pressure force, the pressureless grains will orbit along a
vortex streamline experiencing a drag force. This is a very effective mechanism
to concentrate pebbles as also seen in numerical simulations and possibly in
ALMA observations. Yet, a high pebble load is dangerous for the vortex, and we
showed that in two-dimensional simulations the backreaction eventually leads to
vortex disruption. We investigate whether the same happens in three dimensions.
We perform 3D simulations with pebbles in a local box finding that, although
the pebbles disturb the vortex around the midplane, the column does not get
destroyed. This result is important because, based on the previous 2D result
suggesting complete disruption, the vortex interpretation of ALMA observations
has been called into question. We show instead that the vortex behaves like a
Taylor column, and the pebbles as obstacles to the flow. Pebble accumulation in
the center of the vortices proceeds to roughly the same concentration as in the
control run without backreaction.Comment: AAS research note; 3 pages, 1 figur
Planet migration in three-dimensional radiative discs
The migration of growing protoplanets depends on the thermodynamics of the
ambient disc. Standard modelling, using locally isothermal discs, indicate in
the low planet mass regime an inward (type-I) migration. Taking into account
non-isothermal effects, recent studies have shown that the direction of the
type-I migration can change from inward to outward. In this paper we extend
previous two-dimensional studies, and investigate the planet-disc interaction
in viscous, radiative discs using fully three-dimensional radiation
hydrodynamical simulations of protoplanetary accretion discs with embedded
planets, for a range of planetary masses.
We use an explicit three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamical code NIRVANA that
includes full tensor viscosity. We have added implicit radiation transport in
the flux-limited diffusion approximation, and to speed up the simulations
significantly we have newly adapted and implemented the FARGO-algorithm in a 3D
context.
First, we present results of test simulations that demonstrate the accuracy
of the newly implemented FARGO-method in 3D. For a planet mass of 20 M_earth we
then show that the inclusion of radiative effects yields a torque reversal also
in full 3D. For the same opacity law used the effect is even stronger in 3D
than in the corresponding 2D simulations, due to a slightly thinner disc.
Finally, we demonstrate the extent of the torque reversal by calculating a
sequence of planet masses. Through full 3D simulations of embedded planets in
viscous, radiative discs we confirm that the migration can be directed outwards
up to planet masses of about 33 M_earth. Hence, the effect may help to resolve
the problem of too rapid inward migration of planets during their type-I phase.Comment: 16 pages, Astronomy&Astrophysics, in pres
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