Self-Sustaining Vortices in Protoplanetary Disks: Setting the Stage for Planetary System Formation. (arXiv:2106.14047v3 [astro-ph.EP] UPDATED)
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Regaly_Z/0/1/0/all/0/1">Zsolt Regaly</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kadam_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kundan Kadam</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dullemond_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Cornelis P. Dullemond</a>
The core accretion scenario of planet formation assumes that planetesimals
and planetary embryos are formed during the primordial, gaseous phases of the
protoplanetary disk. However, how the dust particles overcome the traditional
growth barriers is not well understood. The recently proposed viscous
ring-instability may explain the concentric rings observed in protoplanetary
disks by assuming that the dust grains can reduce the gas conductivity, which
can weaken the magneto-rotational instability. We present an analysis of this
model with the help of GPU-based numerical hydrodynamic simulations of coupled
gas and dust in the thin-disk limit. During the evolution of the disk the dusty
rings become Rossby unstable and break up into a cascade of small-scale
vortices. The vortices form secularly stable dusty structures, which could be
sites of planetesimal formation by the streaming instability as well as direct
gravitational collapse. The phenomenon of self-sustaining vortices is
consistent with observational constraints of exoplanets and sets a favorable
environment for planetary system formation.
The core accretion scenario of planet formation assumes that planetesimals
and planetary embryos are formed during the primordial, gaseous phases of the
protoplanetary disk. However, how the dust particles overcome the traditional
growth barriers is not well understood. The recently proposed viscous
ring-instability may explain the concentric rings observed in protoplanetary
disks by assuming that the dust grains can reduce the gas conductivity, which
can weaken the magneto-rotational instability. We present an analysis of this
model with the help of GPU-based numerical hydrodynamic simulations of coupled
gas and dust in the thin-disk limit. During the evolution of the disk the dusty
rings become Rossby unstable and break up into a cascade of small-scale
vortices. The vortices form secularly stable dusty structures, which could be
sites of planetesimal formation by the streaming instability as well as direct
gravitational collapse. The phenomenon of self-sustaining vortices is
consistent with observational constraints of exoplanets and sets a favorable
environment for planetary system formation.
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