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Large-scale Vortices in Protoplanetary Disks: On the observability of possible early stages of planet formation

Sebastian Wolf·Hubert Klahr
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Abstract

We investigate the possibility of mapping large-scale anti-cyclonic vortices, resulting from a global baroclinic instability, as pre-cursors of planet formation in proto-planetary disks with the planned Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). On the basis of three-dimensional radiative transfer simulations, images of a hydrodynamically calculated disk are derived which provide the basis for the simulation of ALMA. We find that ALMA will be able to trace the theoretically predicted large-scale anti-cyclonic vortex and will therefore allow testing of existing models of this very early stage of planet formation in circumstellar disks.

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Sebastian Wolf, Hubert Klahr. 2002-08-30. Large-scale Vortices in Protoplanetary Disks: On the observability of possible early stages of planet formation. https://doi.org/10.1086/344501

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