Rowther, S. orcid.org/0000-0003-4249-4478, Nealon, R., Meru, F. orcid.org/0000-0002-3984-9496 et al. (5 more authors) (2024) The role of drag and gravity on dust concentration in a gravitationally unstable disc. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 528 (2). pp. 2490-2500. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
We carry out three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to study the role of gravitational and drag forces on the concentration of large dust grains (St > 1) in the spiral arms of gravitationally unstable protoplanetary discs, and the resulting implications for planet formation. We find that both drag and gravity play an important role in the evolution of large dust grains. If we include both, grains that would otherwise be partially decoupled will become well coupled and trace the spirals. For the dust grains most influenced by drag (with Stokes numbers near unity), the dust disc quickly becomes gravitationally unstable and rapidly forms clumps with masses between 0.15–6M⊕. A large fraction of clumps are below the threshold where runaway gas accretion can occur. However, if dust self-gravity is neglected, the dust is unable to form clumps, despite still becoming trapped in the gas spirals. When large dust grains are unable to feel either gas gravity or drag, the dust is unable to trace the gas spirals. Hence, full physics is needed to properly simulate dust in gravitationally unstable discs. Dust trapping of large grains in spiral arms of discs stable to gas fragmentation could explain planet formation in very young discs by a population of planetesimals formed due to the combined roles of drag and gravity in the earliest stages of a disc’s evolution. Furthermore, it highlights that gravitationally unstable discs are not just important for forming gas giants quickly, it can also rapidly form Earth mass bodies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | hydrodynamics, protoplanetary discs |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Astrophysics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 01 Feb 2024 15:49 |
Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2024 15:49 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnras/stae167 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:208506 |