Electric charging of dust aggregates and its effect on dust coagulation in protoplanetary disks

Mutual sticking of dust aggregates is the first step toward planetesimal formation in protoplanetary disks. In spite that the electric charging of dust particles is well recognized in some contexts, it has been largely ignored in the current modeling of dust coagulation. In this study, we present a general analysis of the dust charge state in protoplanetary disks, and then demonstrate how the electric charging could dramatically change the currently accepted scenario of dust coagulation. First, we describe a new semianalytical method to calculate the dust charge state and gas ionization state self-consistently. This method is far more efficient than previous numerical methods, and provides a general and clear description of the charge state of gas-dust mixture. Second, we apply this analysis to early evolutionary stages where the dust has been thought to grow into fractal ($D \sim 2$) aggregates with a quasi-monodisperse (i.e., narrow) size distribution. We find that, for a wide range of model parameters, the fractal growth is strongly inhibited by the electric repulsion between colliding aggregates and eventually "freezes out" on its way to the subsequent growth stage involving collisional compression. Strong disk turbulence would help the aggregates to overcome this growth barrier, but then it would cause catastrophic collisional fragmentation in later growth stages. These facts suggest that the combination of electric repulsion and collisional fragmentation would impose a serious limitation on dust growth in protoplanetary disks. We propose a possible scenario of dust evolution after the freeze-out. Finally, we point out that the fractal growth of dust aggregates tends to maintain a low ionization degree and, as a result, a large magnetorotationally stable region in the disk.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, the effect of stellar X-ray ionization included, conclusions unchanged, accepted for publication in Ap

Protostar Formation in Magnetic Molecular Clouds beyond Ion Detachment: I. Formulation of the Problem and Method of Solution

We formulate the problem of the formation of magnetically supercritical cores in magnetically subcritical parent molecular clouds, and the subsequent collapse of the cores to high densities, past the detachment of ions from magnetic field lines and into the opaque regime. We employ the six-fluid MHD equations, accounting for the effects of grains (negative, positive and neutral) including their inelastic collisions with other species. We do not assume that the magnetic flux is frozen in any of the charged species. We derive a generalized Ohm's law that explicitly distinguishes between flux advection (and the associated process of ambipolar diffusion) and Ohmic dissipation, in order to assess the contribution of each mechanism to the increase of the mass-to-flux ratio of the central parts of a collapsing core and possibly to the resolution of the magnetic flux problem of star formation. We show how our formulation is related to and can be transformed into the traditional, directional formulation of the generalized Ohm's law, and we derive formulae for the perpendicular, parallel and Hall conductivities entering the latter, which include, for the first time, the effect of inelastic collisions between grains. In addition, we present a general (valid in any geometry) solution for the velocities of charged species as functions of the velocity of the neutrals and of the effective flux velocity (which can in turn be calculated from the dynamics of the system and Faraday's law). The last two sets of formulae can be adapted for use in any general non-ideal MHD code to study phenomena beyond star formation in magnetic clouds. The results, including a detailed parameter study, are presented in two accompanying papers.Comment: 17 pages, emulateapj; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Effect of the Hall Term on the Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetorotational Instability: I. Local Axisymmetric Simulations

The effect of the Hall term on the evolution of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in weakly ionized accretion disks is investigated using local axisymmetric simulations. First, we show that the Hall term has important effects on the MRI when the temperature and density in the disk is below a few thousand K and between 10^13 and 10^18 cm^{-3} respectively. Such conditions can occur in the quiescent phase of dwarf nova disks, or in the inner part (inside 10 - 100 AU) of protoplanetary disks. When the Hall term is important, the properties of the MRI are dependent on the direction of the magnetic field with respect to the angular velocity vector \Omega. If the disk is threaded by a uniform vertical field oriented in the same sense as \Omega, the axisymmetric evolution of the MRI is an exponentially growing two-channel flow without saturation. When the field is oppositely directed to \Omega, however, small scale fluctuations prevent the nonlinear growth of the channel flow and the MRI evolves into MHD turbulence. These results are anticipated from the characteristics of the linear dispersion relation. In axisymmetry on a field with zero-net flux, the evolution of the MRI is independent of the size of the Hall term relative to the inductive term. The evolution in this case is determined mostly by the effect of ohmic dissipation.Comment: 31 pages, 3 tables, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, postscript version also available from http://www.astro.umd.edu/~sano/publications

Mechanism of Magnetic Flux Loss in Molecular Clouds

We investigate the detailed processes working in the drift of magnetic fields in molecular clouds. To the frictional force, whereby the magnetic force is transmitted to neutral molecules, ions contribute more than half only at cloud densities $n_{\rm H} < 10^4 {\rm cm}^{-3}$, and charged grains contribute more than 90% at $n_{\rm H} > 10^6 {\rm cm}^{-3}$. Thus grains play a decisive role in the process of magnetic flux loss. Approximating the flux loss time $t_B$ by a power law $t_B \propto B^{-\gamma}$, where $B$ is the mean field strength in the cloud, we find $\gamma \approx 2$, characteristic to ambipolar diffusion, only at $n_{\rm H} < 10^7 {\rm cm}^{-3}$. At higher densities, $\gamma$ decreases steeply with $n_{\rm H}$, and finally at $n_{\rm H} \approx n_{\rm dec} \approx {\rm a few} \times 10^{11} {\rm cm}^{-3}$, where magnetic fields effectively decouple from the gas, $\gamma << 1$ is attained, reminiscent of Ohmic dissipation, though flux loss occurs about 10 times faster than by Ohmic dissipation. Ohmic dissipation is dominant only at $n_{\rm H} > 1 \times 10^{12} {\rm cm}^{-3}$. While ions and electrons drift in the direction of magnetic force at all densities, grains of opposite charges drift in opposite directions at high densities, where grains are major contributors to the frictional force. Although magnetic flux loss occurs significantly faster than by Ohmic dissipation even at very high densities as $n_{\rm H} \approx n_{\rm dec}$, the process going on at high densities is quite different from ambipolar diffusion in which particles of opposite charges are supposed to drift as one unit.Comment: 34 pages including 9 postscript figures, LaTex, accepted by Astrophysical Journal (vol.573, No.1, July 1, 2002

Modulation Identification and Carrier Recovery System for Adaptive Modulation in Satellite Communications

We introduce the modulation identification technique implementing the multimode phase locked loop (PLL) in the satellite communication using adaptive modulation scheme which is a countermeasure against the rain attenuation. In the multimode PLL, phase lock detectors (PLDs) are used for not only phase lock, but also modulation identification. We present the sub-optimized design of the PLDs for modulation identification with respect to the throughput and show the validity of sub-optimization. In addition, by the comparison between the multimode PLL and conventional scheme in ISDB-S, we present the effectivity of the multimode PLL

Method of Non-Data-Aided Carrier Recovery with Modulation Identification

A non-data aided carrier recovery technique using digital modulation format identification called multi-mode PLL (Phase Locked Loop) is proposed. This technique can be interpreted as a modulation identification method that is robust against static phase and frequency offsets. The performance of the proposed technique is studied and the analytical expressions are derived for the probability of lock detection, acquisition time over AWGN channel in the cases of M-PSK and M-QAM modulations with respect to frequency offset and signal-to-noise ratio

A Method of Non-Data-Aided Carrier Recovery with Modulation Identification

A non-data aided carrier recovery technique using modulation format identification is proposed. This technique can also be interpreted as a modulation identification method that is robust against static phase and frequency offsets. The performance of the proposed technique is studied and analytical expressions derived for the mean acquisition time to detect lock in the cases of M-PSK, M=2,4,8, and 16-QAM modulation, with respect to frequency offset and signal-to-noise ratio. The results are verified with Monte Carlo simulations. The main advantage of the proposed method lies in its simpler implementation and faster lock detection, when compared to conventional methods

Second Generation Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone: Mixing Noble Ideas and Hard Reality

DOI: 10.5564/mjia.v0i14.24Mongolian Journal of International Affairs No.14 2007 pp.58-6

A Draft Northeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty: A Basis for Discussion

DOI: 10.5564/mjia.v0i14.21Mongolian Journal of International Affairs No.14 2007 pp.37-4

Magnetorotational Instability in Protoplanetary Disks. II. Ionization State and Unstable Regions

We investigate where in protoplanetary disks magnetorotational instability operates, which can cause angular momentum transport in the disks. We investigate the spatial distribution of various charged particles and the unstable regions for a variety of models for protoplanetary disks taking into account the recombination of ions and electrons at grain surfaces, which is an important process in most parts of the disks. We find that for all the models there is an inner region which is magnetorotationally stable due to ohmic dissipation. This must make the accretion onto the central star non-steady. For the model of the minimum-mass solar nebula, the critical radius, inside of which the disk is stable, is about 20 AU, and the mass accretion rate just outside the critical radius is 10^{-7} - 10^{-6} M_{\odot} yr^{-1}. The stable region is smaller in a disk of lower column density. Dust grains in protoplanetary disks may grow by mutual sticking and may sediment toward the midplane of the disks. We find that the stable region shrinks as the grain size increases or the sedimentation proceeds. Therefore in the late evolutionary stages, protoplanetary disks can be magnetorotationally unstable even in the inner regions.Comment: 23 pages + 16 figures + 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap