SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 0812.0844

Disk Winds Driven by Magnetorotational Instability and Dispersal of Proto-Planetary Disks

Abstract

By performing local three-dimensional MHD simulations of stratified accretion disks, we investigate disk winds driven by MHD turbulence. Initially given weak vertical magnetic fields are effectively amplified by magnetorotational instability and winding due to differential rotation. Large scale channel flows develop most effectively at 1.5 - 2 times the scale heights where the magnetic pressure is comparable to but slightly smaller than the gas pressure. The breakup of these channel flows drives structured disk winds by transporting the Poynting flux to the gas. These features are universally observed in the simulations of various initial fields. This disk wind process should play an essential role in the dynamical evaporation of proto-planetary disks. The breakup of channel flows also excites the momentum fluxes associated with Alfvenic and (magneto-)sonic waves toward the mid-plane, which possibly contribute to the sedimentation of small dust grains in protoplanetary disks.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

T. K. Suzuki, S. Inutsuka. 2008-12-26. Disk Winds Driven by Magnetorotational Instability and Dispersal of Proto-Planetary Disks. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x%2F691%2F1%2Fl49

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Sky coverage of orbital detectors. Analytical approach

Orbital detectors without pointing capability have to keep their field of view axis laying on their orbital plane, to observe the largest sky fraction. A general approach to estimate the exposure of each sky element for such detectors is a valuable tool in the R&D phase of a project, when the detector characteristics are still to be fixed. An analytical method to estimate the sky exposure is developed, which makes only few very reasonable approximations. The formulae obtained with this method are used to compute the histogram of the sky exposure of a hypothetical gamma-ray detector installed on the ISS. The C++ code used in this example is freely available on the https://github.com/dcasadei/SkyCoverage web page.

astro-ph

The Role of Primordial Kicks on Black Hole Merger Rates

Primordial stars are likely to be very massive >30 Msun, form in isolation, and will likely leave black holes as remnants in the centers of their host dark matter halos. We expect primordial stars to form in halos in the mass range 10^6-10^10 Msun. Some of these early black holes, formed at redshifts z>10, could be the seed black hole for a significant fraction of the supermassive black holes found in galaxies in the local universe. If the black hole descendants of the primordial stars exist, their mergers with nearby supermassive black holes may be a prime candidate for long wavelength gravitational wave detectors. We simulate formation and evolution of dark matter halos in LambdaCDM universe. We seed high-redshift dark matter halos with early black holes, and explore the merger history of the host halos and the implications of black hole's kick velocities arising from their coalescence. The central concentration of low mass early black holes in present day galaxies is reduced if they experience even moderate kicks of tens of km/s. Even such modest kicks allow the black holes to leave their parent halo, which consequently leads to dynamical friction being less effective on the low mass black holes that were ejected, compared to those still embedded in their parent halos. Therefore, merger rates with central supermassive black holes in the largest halos may be reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Using analytical and illustrative cosmological N-body simulations, we quantify the role of kicks on the merger rates of black holes formed from massive metal free stars with supermassive black holes in present day galaxies.

astro-ph

Pulsar Magnetic Field Oscillation Model and Verification Methods

We constructed the magnetic field oscillation model (hereafter the MO model) by analogizing the periodically reversing phenomenon of the solar magnetic field to pulsars. Almost all kinds of pulsar radiation phenomena are best explained using the MO model, especially polarization characteristics, glitch, generation rate, the geodetic precession of pulsars and the configuration of pulsar-wind nebula of the Crab. The MO model also provides satisfactory explanation for other characteristics of pulsars, e.g., interpulse, spin-down, pulse nulling, beat and pulse drift, the loss rate of the rotating energy, and the accuracy of frequency. We present eight verification methods for the MO model. In addition to pulsars, our MO model can also be used to explain the pulse emission from non-compact stars such as the ultracool dwarf TVLM 513-46546 and the magnetic chemically peculiar star CU Virginis.

astro-ph