Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chambers, John
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.17126
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913283144941568
author Chambers, John
author_facet Chambers, John
contents Protoplanetary disks are often assumed to change slowly and smoothly during planet formation. Here, we investigate the time evolution of isolated disks subject to viscosity and a disk wind. The viscosity is assumed to increase rapidly at around 900 K due to thermal ionization of alkali metals, or thermionic and ion emission from dust, and the onset of magneto-rotational instability (MRI). The disks generally undergo large, rapid fluctuations for a wide range of time-averaged mass accretion rates. Fluctuations involve coupled waves in temperature and surface density that move radially in either direction through the inner 1.5 AU of the disk. Two types of wave are seen with radial speeds of roughly 50 and 1000 cm/s respectively. The pattern of waves repeats with a period of roughly 10,000 years that depends weakly on the average mass accretion rate. Viscous transport due to MRI is confined to the inner disk. This region is resupplied by mass flux from the outer disk driven by the disk wind. Interior to 1 AU, the temperature and surface density can vary by a factor of 2--10 on timescales of years to ky. The stellar mass accretion rate varies by 3 orders of magnitude on a similar timescale. This behavior lasts for at least 1 My for initial disks comparable to the minimum-mass solar nebula.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_17126
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Large Fluctuations within 1 AU in Protoplanetary Disks
Chambers, John
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Protoplanetary disks are often assumed to change slowly and smoothly during planet formation. Here, we investigate the time evolution of isolated disks subject to viscosity and a disk wind. The viscosity is assumed to increase rapidly at around 900 K due to thermal ionization of alkali metals, or thermionic and ion emission from dust, and the onset of magneto-rotational instability (MRI). The disks generally undergo large, rapid fluctuations for a wide range of time-averaged mass accretion rates. Fluctuations involve coupled waves in temperature and surface density that move radially in either direction through the inner 1.5 AU of the disk. Two types of wave are seen with radial speeds of roughly 50 and 1000 cm/s respectively. The pattern of waves repeats with a period of roughly 10,000 years that depends weakly on the average mass accretion rate. Viscous transport due to MRI is confined to the inner disk. This region is resupplied by mass flux from the outer disk driven by the disk wind. Interior to 1 AU, the temperature and surface density can vary by a factor of 2--10 on timescales of years to ky. The stellar mass accretion rate varies by 3 orders of magnitude on a similar timescale. This behavior lasts for at least 1 My for initial disks comparable to the minimum-mass solar nebula.
title Large Fluctuations within 1 AU in Protoplanetary Disks
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.17126