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Kengo Tomida

Publications and source records attributed to Kengo Tomida.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Transition region from turbulent to dead zone in protoplanetary disks: local shearing box simulations

The dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks is of key interest for building a comprehensive theory of planet formation and to explain the observational properties of these objects. Using the magnetohydrodynamics code Athena++, with an isothermal shearing box setup, we study the boundary between the active and dead zone, where the accretion rate changes and mass can accumulate. We quantify how the turbulence level is affected by the presence of a non uniform ohmic resistivity in the radial-x direction that leads to a region of inhibited turbulence (or dead zone). Comparing the turbulent activity to that of ideal simulations, the turbulence inhibited area shows density fluctuations and magnetic activity at its boundaries, driven by energy injection from the active (ideal) zone boundaries. We find magnetic dissipation to be significantly stronger in the ideal regions, and the turbulence penetration through the boundary of the dead zone is determined by the value of the resistivity itself, through the ohmic dissipation process, though the thickness of the transition does not play a significant role in changing the dissipation. We investigate the 1D spectra along the shearing direction: magnetic spectra appear flat at large scales both in ideal as well as resistive simulations, though a Kolmogorov scaling over more than one decade persists in the dead zone, suggesting the turbulent cascade is determined by the hydrodynamics of the system: MRI dynamo action is inhibited where sufficiently high resistivity is present.

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Turbulent dissipation, CH$^+$ abundance, H$_2$ line luminosities, and polarization in the cold neutral medium

In the cold neutral medium, high out-of-equilibrium temperatures are created by intermittent dissipation processes, including shocks, viscous heating, and ambipolar diffusion. The high-temperature excursions are thought to explain the enhanced abundance of CH$^{+}$ observed along diffuse molecular sight-lines. Intermittent high temperatures should also have an impact on H$_2$ line luminosities. We carry out simulations of MHD turbulence in molecular clouds including heating and cooling, and post-process them to study H$_2$ line emission and hot-gas chemistry, particularly the formation of CH$^+$. We explore multiple magnetic field strengths and equations of state. We use a new H$_2$ cooling function for $n_{\rm H} \leq 10^5\,{\rm cm}^{-3}$, $T\leq 5000\,{\rm K}$, and variable H$_2$ fraction. We make two important simplifying assumptions: (i) the ${\rm H}_2/{\rm H}$ fraction is fixed everywhere, and (ii) we exclude from our analysis regions where the ion-neutral drift velocity is calculated to be greater than 5 km/s. Our models produce H$_2$ emission lines in accord with many observations, although extra excitation mechanisms are required in some clouds. For realistic r.m.s. magnetic field strengths ($\approx 10$ $μ$G) and velocity dispersions, we reproduce observed CH$^+$ abundances. These findings contrast with those of Valdivia et al. (2017). Comparison of predicted dust polarization with observations by {\it Planck} suggests that the mean field $\gtrsim 5 μ$G, so that the turbulence is sub-Alfvénic. We recommend future work treating ions and neutrals as separate fluids to more accurately capture the effects of ambipolar diffusion on CH$^+$ abundance.

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Bimodal Behavior and Convergence Requirement in Macroscopic Properties of the Multiphase Interstellar Medium Formed by Atomic Converging Flows

We systematically perform hydrodynamics simulations of 20 km s^-1 converging flows of the warm neutral medium (WNM) to calculate the formation of the cold neutral medium (CNM), especially focusing on the mean properties of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), such as the average shock front position and the mean density on a 10 pc scale. Our results show that the convergence in those mean properties requires 0.02 pc spatial resolution that resolves the cooling length of the thermally unstable neutral medium (UNM) to follow the dynamical condensation from the WNM to CNM. We also find that two distinct post-shock states appear in the mean properties depending on the amplitude of the upstream WNM density fluctuation (= sqrt( )/rho_0). When the amplitude > 10 %, the interaction between shocks and density inhomogeneity leads to a strong driving of the post-shock turbulence of > 3 km s^-1, which dominates the energy budget in the shock-compressed layer. The turbulence prevents the dynamical condensation by cooling and the following CNM formation, and the CNM mass fraction remains as ~ 45 %. In contrast, when the amplitude <= 10 %, the shock fronts maintain an almost straight geometry and CNM formation efficiently proceeds, resulting in the CNM mass fraction of ~ 70 %. The velocity dispersion is limited to the thermal-instability mediated level of 2 - 3 km s^-1 and the layer is supported by both turbulent and thermal energy equally. We also propose an effective equation of state that models the multiphase ISM formed by the WNM converging flow as a one-phase ISM.

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Protostellar collapse: regulation of the angular momentum and onset of an ionic precursor

Through the magnetic braking and the launching of protostellar outflows, magnetic fields play a major role in the regulation of angular momentum in star formation, which directly impacts the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks and binary systems. The aim of this paper is to quantify those phenomena in the presence of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics effects, namely the Ohmic and ambipola r diffusion. We perform three-dimensional simulations of protostellar collapses varying the mass of the prestellar dense core, the thermal support (the $α$ ratio) and the dust grain size-distribu tion. The mass mostly influences the magnetic braking in the pseudo-disk, while the thermal support impacts the accretion rate and hence the properties of the disk. Removing the grains smaller than 0. 1 $μ$m in the Mathis, Rumpl, Nordsieck (MRN) distribution enhances the ambipolar diffusion coefficient. Similarly to previous studies, we find that this change in the distribution reduces the magnet ic braking with an impact on the disk. The outflow is also significantly weakened. In either case, the magnetic braking largely dominates the outflow as a process to remove the angular momentum from t he disk. Finally, we report a large ionic precursor to the outflow with velocities of several km s$^{-1}$, which may be observable.

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Salt, Hot Water, and Silicon Compounds Tracing Massive Twin Disks

We report results of 0.05"-resolution observations toward the O-type proto-binary system IRAS 16547-4247 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We present dynamical and chemical structures of the circumbinary disk, circumstellar disks, outflows and jets, illustrated by multi-wavelength continuum and various molecular lines. In particular, we detect sodium chloride, silicon compounds, and vibrationally-excited water lines as probes of the individual protostellar disks at a scale of 100 au. These are complementary to typical hot-core molecules tracing the circumbinary structures on a 1000-au scale. The H2O line tracing inner-disks has an upper-state energy of Eu/k>3000K, indicating a high temperature of the disks. On the other hand, despite the detected transitions of NaCl, SiO, and SiS not necessarily having high upper-state energies, they are enhanced only in the vicinity of the protostars. We interpret that these molecules are the products of dust destruction, which only happens in the inner disks. This is the second detection of alkali metal halide in protostellar systems after the case of the disk of Orion Source I, and also one of few massive protostellar disks associated with high-energy transition water and silicon compounds. These new results suggest these "hot-disk" lines may be common in innermost disks around massive protostars, and have great potential for future research of massive star formation. We also tentatively find that the twin disks are counter-rotating, which might give a hint of the origin of the massive proto-binary system IRAS 16547-4247.

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FRagmentation and Evolution of dense cores Judged by ALMA (FREJA). I (Overview). Inner $\sim$1000 au structures of prestellar/protostellar cores in Taurus

We have performed survey-type observations in 1 mm continuum and molecular lines toward dense cores (32 prestellar + 7 protostellar) with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in the Taurus molecular clouds using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array-Atacama Compact Array (ALMA-ACA) stand-alone mode with an angular resolution of 6.$''$5 ($\sim$900 au). The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the innermost part of dense cores toward understanding the initial condition of star formation. In the protostellar cores, contributions from protostellar disks dominate the observed continuum flux with a range of 35-90% except for the very low-luminosity object. For the prestellar cores, we have successfully confirmed continuum emission from dense gas with a density of $\gtrsim$3 $\times$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ toward approximately one-third of the targets. Thanks to the lower spatial frequency coverage with the ACA-7 m array, the detection rate is significantly higher than that of the previous surveys, which have 0 or 1 continuum detected sources among large number of starless samples using the ALMA Main array. The statistical counting method tells us that the lifetime of the prestellar cores until protostar formation therein approaches the free-fall time as the density increases. Among the prestellar cores, at least two targets have possible internal substructures, which are detected in continuum emission with the size scale of $\sim$1000 au if we consider the molecular line (C$^{18}$O and N$_2$D$^{+}$) distributions. These results suggest that small-scale fragmentation/coalescence processes occur in a region smaller than 0.1 pc, which may determine the final core mass associated with individual protostar formation before starting the dynamical collapse of the core with central density of $\sim$(0.3-1) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$.

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A low-velocity bipolar outflow from a deeply embedded object in Taurus revealed by the Atacama Compact Array

The first hydrostatic core, the first quasi-hydrostatic object formed during the star formation process, is still the observational missing link between the prestellar and protostellar phases, mainly due to its short lifetime. Although we have not established a clear method to identify this rare object, recent theoretical studies predict that the first core has millimeter continuum emission and low-velocity outflow with a wide opening angle. An extensive continuum/outflow survey toward a large number of $"$starless$"$ cores in nearby star-forming regions works as a pathfinder. We observed 32 prestellar cores in Taurus with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in 1.3 mm continuum and molecular lines using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array$-$Atacama Compact Array (ALMA$-$ACA) stand-alone mode. Among the targets, MC35-mm centered at one of the densest $"$starless$"$ cores in Taurus has blueshifted/redshifted wings in the $^{12}$CO (2-1) line, indicating that there is deeply embedded object driving molecular outflow. The observed velocities and sizes of the possible outflow lobes are 2-4 km s$^{-1}$, and $\sim$2 $\times$10$^3$ au, respectively, and the dynamical time is calculated to be $\sim$10$^3$ yr. In addition to this, the core is one of the strongest N$_2$D$^{+}$ (3-2) emitters in our sample. All of the observed signatures do not conflict with any of the theoretical predictions about the first hydrostatic core so far, and thus MC35-mm is unique as the only first-core candidate in the Taurus molecular cloud.

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The Athena++ Adaptive Mesh Refinement Framework: Design and Magnetohydrodynamic Solvers

The design and implementation of a new framework for adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) calculations is described. It is intended primarily for applications in astrophysical fluid dynamics, but its flexible and modular design enables its use for a wide variety of physics. The framework works with both uniform and nonuniform grids in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinate systems. It adopts a dynamic execution model based on a simple design called a "task list" that improves parallel performance by overlapping communication and computation, simplifies the inclusion of a diverse range of physics, and even enables multiphysics models involving different physics in different regions of the calculation. We describe physics modules implemented in this framework for both non-relativistic and relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). These modules adopt mature and robust algorithms originally developed for the Athena MHD code and incorporate new extensions: support for curvilinear coordinates, higher-order time integrators, more realistic physics such as a general equation of state, and diffusion terms that can be integrated with super-time-stepping algorithms. The modules show excellent performance and scaling, with well over 80% parallel efficiency on over half a million threads. The source code has been made publicly available.

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GW Ori: Interactions Between a Triple-star System and its Circumtriple Disk in Action

GW Ori is a hierarchical triple system which has a rare circumtriple disk. We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of 1.3 mm dust continuum and 12CO J=2-1 molecular gas emission of the disk. For the first time, we identify three dust rings in the disk at ~46, 188, and 338 AU, with estimated dust mass of ~70-250 Earth masses, respectively. To our knowledge, the outer ring in GW Ori is the largest dust ring ever found in protoplanetary disks. We use visibility modelling of dust continuum to show that the disk has misaligned parts and the innermost dust ring is eccentric. The disk misalignment is also suggested by the CO kinematics modelling. We interpret these substructures as evidence of ongoing dynamical interactions between the triple stars and the circumtriple disk.

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Formation and Evolution of Disks around Young Stellar Objects

Recent observations have suggested that circumstellar disks may commonly form around young stellar objects. Although the formation of circumstellar disks can be a natural result of the conservation of angular momentum in the parent cloud, theoretical studies instead show disk formation to be difficult from dense molecular cores magnetized to a realistic level, owing to efficient magnetic braking that transports a large fraction of the angular momentum away from the circumstellar region. We review recent progress in the formation and early evolution of disks around young stellar objects of both low-mass and high-mass, with an emphasis on mechanisms that may bridge the gap between observation and theory, including non-ideal MHD effects and asymmetric perturbations in the collapsing core (e.g., magnetic field misalignment and turbulence). We also address the associated processes of outflow launching and the formation of multiple systems, and discuss possible implications in properties of protoplanetary disks.

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Disk structure around the Class I protostar L1489 IRS revealed by ALMA: a warped disk system

We have observed the Class I protostar L1489 IRS with the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Band 6. The C$^{18}$O $J=$2-1 line emission shows flattened and non-axisymmetric structures in the same direction as its velocity gradient due to rotation. We discovered that the C$^{18}$O emission shows dips at a radius of ~200-300 au while the 1.3 mm continuum emission extends smoothly up to r~400 au. At the radius of the C$^{18}$O dips, the rotational axis of the outer portion appears to be tilted by ~15 degrees from that of the inner component. Both the inner and outer components with respect to the C$^{18}$O dips exhibit the $r^{-0.5}$ Keplerian rotation profiles until r~600 au. These results not only indicate that a Keplerian disk extends up to ~600 au but also that the disk is warped. We constructed a three dimensional warped disk model rotating at the Keplerian velocity, and demonstrated that the warped disk model reproduces main observed features in the velocity channel maps and the PV diagrams. Such a warped disk system can form by mass accretion from a misaligned envelope. We also discuss a possible disk evolution scenario based on comparisons of disk radii and masses between Class I and Class II sources.

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Acceleration and Escape Processes of High-energy Particles in Turbulence inside Hot Accretion Flows

We investigate acceleration and propagation processes of high-energy particles inside hot accretion flows. The magnetorotational instability (MRI) creates turbulence inside accretion flows, which triggers magnetic reconnection and may produce non-thermal particles. They can be further accelerated stochastically by the turbulence. To probe the properties of such relativistic particles, we perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations to obtain the turbulent fields generated by the MRI, and calculate orbits of the high-energy particles using snapshot data of the MRI turbulence. We find that the particle acceleration is described by a diffusion phenomenon in energy space with a diffusion coefficient of the hard-sphere type: $D_ε\propto ε^2$, where $ε$ is the particle energy. Eddies in the largest scale of the turbulence play a dominant role in the acceleration process. On the other hand, the stochastic behaviour in configuration space is not usual diffusion but superdiffusion: the radial displacement increases with time faster than that in the normal diffusion. Also, the magnetic field configuration in the hot accretion flow creates outward bulk motion of high-energy particles. This bulk motion is more effective than the diffusive motion for higher energy particles. Our results imply that typical active galactic nuclei that host hot accretion flows can accelerate CRs up to $ε\sim 0.1-10$ PeV.

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The detection of dust gap-ring structure in the outer region of the CR Cha protoplanetary disk

We observe the dust continuum at 225 GHz and CO isotopologue (12CO, 13CO, and C18O) J=2-1 emission lines toward the CR Cha protoplanetary disk using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). The dust continuum image shows a dust gap-ring structure in the outer region of the dust disk. A faint dust ring is also detected around 120 au beyond the dust gap. The CO isotopologue lines indicate that the gas disk is more extended than the dust disk. The peak brightness temperature of the 13CO line shows a small bump around 130 au while 12CO and C18O lines do not show. We investigate two possible mechanisms for reproducing the observed dust gap-ring structure and a gas temperature bump. First, the observed gap structure can be opened by a Jupiter mass planet using the relation between the planet mass and the gap depth and width. Meanwhile, the radiative transfer calculations based on the observed dust surface density profile show that the observed dust ring could be formed by dust accumulation at the gas temperature bump, that is, the gas pressure bump produced beyond the outer edge of the dust disk.

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Non-ideal MHD simulation of HL Tau disk: formation of rings

Recent high resolution observations unveil ring structures in circumstellar disks. The origin of these rings has been widely investigated under various theoretical scenarios. In this work we perform global 3D non-ideal MHD simulations including effects from both Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion (AD) to model the HL Tau disk. The non-ideal MHD diffusion profiles are calculated based on the global dust evolution calculation including sintering effects. Disk ionization structure changes dramatically across the snow line due to the change of dust size distribution close to snow line of major volatiles. We find that accretion is mainly driven by disk wind. Gaps and rings can be quickly produced from different accretion rates across snow line. Furthermore, ambipolar diffusion (AD) leads to highly preferential accretion at midplane, followed by magnetic reconnection. This results a local zone of decretion that drains of mass in the field reconnection area, which leaves a gap and an adjacent ring just outside it. Overall, under the favorable condition, both snow lines and non-ideal MHD effects can lead to gaseous gaps and rings in protoplanetary disks.

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Impact of the Hall effect in star formation : improving the angular momentum conservation

We present here a minor modification of our numerical implementation of the Hall effect for the 2D Riemann solver used in Constrained Transport schemes, as described in Marchand et al. (2018). In the previous work, the tests showed that the angular momentum was not conserved during protostellar collapse simulations, with significant impact. By removing the whistler waves speed from the characteristic speeds of non-magnetic variables in the 1D Riemann solver, we are able to improve the angular momentum conservation in our test-case by one order of magnitude, while keeping the second-order numerical convergence of the scheme. We also reproduce the simulations of Tsukamoto et al. (2015) with consistent resistivities, the three non-ideal MHD effects and initial rotation, and agree with their results. In this case, the violation of angular momentum conservation is negligible in regard to the total angular momentum and the angular momentum of the disk.

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Disk Formation in Magnetized Dense Cores with Turbulence and Ambipolar Diffusion

Disks are essential to the formation of both stars and planets, but how they form in magnetized molecular cloud cores remains debated. This work focuses on how the disk formation is affected by turbulence and ambipolar diffusion (AD), both separately and in combination, with an emphasis on the protostellar mass accretion phase of star formation. We find that a relatively strong, sonic turbulence on the core scale strongly warps but does not completely disrupt the well-known magnetically-induced flattened pseudodisk that dominates the inner protostellar accretion flow in the laminar case, in agreement with previous work. The turbulence enables the formation of a relatively large disk at early times with or without ambipolar diffusion, but such a disk remains strongly magnetized and does not persist to the end of our simulation unless a relatively strong ambipolar diffusion is also present. The AD-enabled disks in laminar simulations tend to fragment gravitationally. The disk fragmentation is suppressed by initial turbulence. The ambipolar diffusion facilitates the disk formation and survival by reducing the field strength in the circumstellar region through magnetic flux redistribution and by making the field lines there less pinched azimuthally, especially at late times. We conclude that turbulence and ambipolar diffusion complement each other in promoting disk formation. The disks formed in our simulations inherit a rather strong magnetic field from its parental core, with a typical plasma-$β$ of order a few tens or smaller, which is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the values commonly adopted in MHD simulations of protoplanetary disks. To resolve this potential tension, longer-term simulations of disk formation and evolution with increasingly more realistic physics are needed.

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Giant protostellar flares: accretion-driven accumulation and reconnection-driven ejection of magnetic flux in protostars

Protostellar flares are rapid magnetic energy release events associated with formation of hot plasma in protostars. In the previous models of protostellar flares, the interaction between a protostellar magnetosphere with the surrounding disk plays crucial roles in building-up and releasing the magnetic energy. However, it remains unclear if protostars indeed have magnetospheres because vigorous disk accretion and strong disk magnetic fields in the protostellar phase may destroy the magnetosphere. Considering this possibility, we investigate the energy accumulation and release processes in the absence of a magnetosphere using a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation. Our simulation reveals that protostellar flares are repeatedly produced even in such a case. Unlike in the magnetospheric models, the protostar accumulates magnetic energy by acquiring large-scale magnetic fields from the disk by accretion. Protostellar flares occur when a portion of the large-scale magnetic fields are removed from the protostar as a result of magnetic reconnection. Protostellar flares in the simulation are consistent with observations; the released magnetic energy (up to $\sim 3\times 10^{38}$ erg) is large enough to drive observed flares, and the flares produce hot ejecta. The expelled magnetic fields enhance accretion, and the energy build-up and release processes are repeated as a result. The magnetic flux removal via reconnection leads to redistribution of magnetic fields in the inner disk. We therefore consider that protostellar flares will play an important role in the evolution of the disk magnetic fields in the vicinity of protostars.

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A centrally concentrated sub-solar mass starless core in the Taurus L1495 filamentary complex

The formation scenario of brown dwarfs is still unclear because observational studies to investigate its initial condition are quite limited. Our systematic survey of nearby low-mass star-forming regions using the Atacama Compact Array (aka Morita array) and the IRAM 30 m telescope in 1.2 mm continuum has identified a centrally concentrated starless condensation with a central H$_2$ volume density of $\sim$10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$, MC5-N, connected to a narrow (width $\sim$0.03 pc) filamentary cloud in the Taurus L1495 region. The mass of the core is $\sim$0.2-0.4 $M_{\odot}$, which is an order of magnitude smaller than typical low-mass prestellar cores. Taking into account a typical core to star formation efficiency for prestellar cores ($\sim$20%-40%) in nearby molecular clouds, brown dwarf(s) or very low-mass star(s) may be going to be formed in this core. We have found possible substructures at the high-density portion of the core, although much higher angular resolution observation is needed to clearly confirm them. The subsequent N$_2$H$^+$ and N$_2$D$^+$ observations using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope have confirmed the high-deuterium fractionation ($\sim$30%). These dynamically and chemically evolved features indicate that this core is on the verge of proto-brown dwarf or very low-mass star formation and is an ideal source to investigate the initial conditions of such low-mass objects via gravitational collapse and/or fragmentation of the filamentary cloud complex.

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