Meridional circulation of gas into gaps opened by giant planets in three-dimensional low-viscosity disks

A. Morbidelli; J. Szulagyi; A. Crida; E. Lega; B. Bitsch; T. Tanigawa; K. Kanagawa

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.01.010

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arXiv · 1401.2925

Meridional circulation of gas into gaps opened by giant planets in three-dimensional low-viscosity disks

A. Morbidelli·J. Szulagyi·A. Crida·E. Lega·B. Bitsch·T. Tanigawa·K. Kanagawa

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Abstract

We examine the gas circulation near a gap opened by a giant planet in a protoplanetary disk. We show with high resolution 3D simulations that the gas flows into the gap at high altitude over the mid-plane, at a rate dependent on viscosity. We explain this observation with a simple conceptual model. From this model we derive an estimate of the amount of gas flowing into a gap opened by a planet with Hill radius comparable to the scale-height of a layered disk (i. e. a disk with viscous upper layer and inviscid midplane). Our estimate agrees with modern MRI simulations(Gressel et al., 2013). We conclude that gap opening in a layered disk can not slow down significantly the runaway gas accretion of Saturn to Jupiter-mass planets.

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A. Morbidelli, J. Szulagyi, A. Crida, E. Lega, B. Bitsch, T. Tanigawa, K. Kanagawa. 2014-01-13. Meridional circulation of gas into gaps opened by giant planets in three-dimensional low-viscosity disks. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.01.010

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