arXiv subjects

Neal J. Turner

Publications and source records attributed to Neal J. Turner.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

CSI 2264: Characterizing Young Stars in NGC 2264 with Short-Duration, Periodic Flux Dips in their Light Curves

We identify nine young stellar objects (YSOs) in the NGC 2264 star-forming region with optical {\em CoRoT} light curves exhibiting short-duration, shallow, periodic flux dips. All of these stars have infrared (IR) excesses that are consistent with their having inner disk walls near the Keplerian co-rotation radius. The repeating photometric dips have FWHM generally less than one day, depths almost always less than 15%, and periods (3<P<11 days) consistent with dust near the Keplerian co-rotation period. The flux dips vary considerably in their depth from epoch to epoch, but usually persist for several weeks and, in two cases, were present in data collected on successive years. For several of these stars, we also measure the photospheric rotation period and find that the rotation and dip periods are the same, as predicted by standard "disk-locking" models. We attribute these flux dips to clumps of material in or near the inner disk wall, passing through our line of sight to the stellar photosphere. In some cases, these dips are also present in simultaneous {\em Spitzer} IRAC light curves at 3.6 and 4.5 microns. We characterize the properties of these dips, and compare the stars with light curves exhibiting this behavior to other classes of YSO in NGC 2264. A number of physical mechanisms could locally increase the dust scale height near the inner disk wall, and we discuss several of those mechanisms; the most plausible mechanisms are either a disk warp due to interaction with the stellar magnetic field or dust entrained in funnel-flow accretion columns arising near the inner disk wall.

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arXiv2015

Global simulations of protoplanetary disks with ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion

Protoplanetary disks are believed to accrete onto their central T Tauri star because of magnetic stresses. Recently published shearing box simulations indicate that Ohmic resistivity, ambipolar diffusion and the Hall effect all play important roles in disk evolution. In the presence of a vertical magnetic field, the disk remains laminar between 1-5au, and a magnetocentrifugal disk wind forms that provides an important mechanism for removing angular momentum. Questions remain, however, about the establishment of a true physical wind solution in the shearing box simulations because of the symmetries inherent in the local approximation. We present global MHD simulations of protoplanetary disks that include Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion, where the time-dependent gas-phase electron and ion fractions are computed under FUV and X-ray ionization with a simplified recombination chemistry. Our results show that the disk remains laminar, and that a physical wind solution arises naturally in global disk models. The wind is sufficiently efficient to explain the observed accretion rates. Furthermore, the ionization fraction at intermediate disk heights is large enough for magneto-rotational channel modes to grow and subsequently develop into belts of horizontal field. Depending on the ionization fraction, these can remain quasi-global, or break-up into discrete islands of coherent field polarity. The disk models we present here show a dramatic departure from our earlier models including Ohmic resistivity only. It will be important to examine how the Hall effect modifies the evolution, and to explore the influence this has on the observational appearance of such systems, and on planet formation and migration.

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arXiv2014

Protostellar Outflows and Radiative Feedback from Massive Stars

We carry out radiation hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of massive stars in the super-Eddington regime including both their radiative feedback and protostellar outflows. The calculations start from a prestellar core of dusty gas and continue until the star stops growing. The accretion ends when the remnants of the core are ejected, mostly by the force of the direct stellar radiation in the polar direction and elsewhere by the reradiated thermal infrared radiation. How long the accretion persists depends on whether the protostellar outflows are present. We set the mass outflow rate to 1% of the stellar sink particle's accretion rate. The outflows open a bipolar cavity extending to the core's outer edge, through which the thermal radiation readily escapes. The radiative flux is funneled into the polar directions while the core's collapse proceeds near the equator. The outflow thus extends the "flashlight effect", or anisotropic radiation field, found in previous studies from the few hundred AU scale of the circumstellar disk up to the 0.1 parsec scale of the core. The core's flashlight effect allows core gas to accrete on the disk for longer, in the same way that the disk's flashlight effect allows disk gas to accrete on the star for longer. Thus although the protostellar outflows remove material near the core's poles, causing slower stellar growth over the first few free-fall times, they also enable accretion to go on longer in our calculations. The outflows ultimately lead to stars of somewhat higher mass.

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arXiv2014

CSI 2264: Characterizing Accretion-Burst Dominated Light Curves for Young Stars in NGC 2264

Based on more than four weeks of continuous high cadence photometric monitoring of several hundred members of the young cluster NGC 2264 with two space telescopes, NASA's Spitzer and the CNES CoRoT (Convection, Rotation, and planetary Transits), we provide high quality, multi-wavelength light curves for young stellar objects (YSOs) whose optical variability is dominated by short duration flux bursts, which we infer are due to enhanced mass accretion rates. These light curves show many brief -- several hour to one day -- brightenings at optical and near-infrared (IR) wavelengths with amplitudes generally in the range 5-50% of the quiescent value. Typically, a dozen or more of these bursts occur in a thirty day period. We demonstrate that stars exhibiting this type of variability have large ultraviolet (UV) excesses and dominate the portion of the u-g vs. g-r color-color diagram with the largest UV excesses. These stars also have large Halpha equivalent widths, and either centrally peaked, lumpy Halpha emission profiles or profiles with blue-shifted absorption dips associated with disk or stellar winds. Light curves of this type have been predicted for stars whose accretion is dominated by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities at the boundary between their magnetosphere and inner circumstellar disk, or where magneto-rotational instabilities modulate the accretion rate from the inner disk. Amongst the stars with the largest UV excesses or largest Halpha equivalent widths, light curves with this type of variability greatly outnumber light curves with relatively smooth sinusoidal variations associated with long-lived hot spots. We provide quantitative statistics for the average duration and strength of the accretion bursts and for the fraction of the accretion luminosity associated with these bursts.

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arXiv2014

Shedding Light on the Eccentricity Valley: Gap Heating and Eccentricity Excitation of Giant Planets in Protoplanetary Disks

We show that the first order (non co-orbital) corotation torques are significantly modified by entropy gradients in a non-barotropic protoplanetary disk. Such non-barotropic torques can dramatically alter the balance that, for barotropic cases, results in the net eccentricity damping for giant gap-clearing planets embedded in the disk. We demonstrate that stellar illumination can heat the gap enough for the planet's orbital eccentricity to instead be excited. We also discuss the "Eccentricity Valley" noted in the known exoplanet population, where low-metallicity stars have a deficit of eccentric planets between $\sim 0.1$ and $\sim 1$ AU compared to metal-rich systems (Dawson & Murray-Clay 2013). We show that this feature in the planet distribution may be due to the self-shadowing of the disk by a rim located at the dust sublimation radius $\sim 0.1$ AU, which is known to exist for several T Tauri systems. In the shadowed region between $\sim 0.1$ and $\sim 1$ AU lack of gap insolation allows disk interactions to damp eccentricity. Outside such shadowed regions stellar illumination can heat the planetary gaps and drive eccentricity growth for giant planets. We suggest that the self-shadowing does not arise at higher metallicity due to the increased optical depth of the gas interior to the dust sublimation radius.

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arXiv2013

Global hydromagnetic simulations of a planet embedded in a dead zone: gap opening, gas accretion and formation of a protoplanetary jet

We present global hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with mesh refinement of accreting planets embedded in protoplanetary disks (PPDs). The magnetized disk includes Ohmic resistivity that depends on the overlying mass column, leading to turbulent surface layers and a dead zone near the midplane. The main results are: (i) The accretion flow in the Hill sphere is intrinsically 3D for hydrodynamic and MHD models. Net inflow toward the planet is dominated by high latitude flows. A circumplanetary disk (CPD) forms. Its midplane flows outward in a pattern whose details differ between models. (ii) Gap opening magnetically couples and ignites the dead zone near the planet, leading to stochastic accretion, a quasi-turbulent flow in the Hill sphere and a CPD whose structure displays high levels of variability. (iii) Advection of magnetized gas onto the rotating CPD generates helical fields that launch magnetocentrifugally driven outflows. During one specific epoch a highly collimated, one-sided jet is observed. (iv) The CPD's surface density $\sim30{\rm\,g\,cm^{-2}}$, small enough for significant ionization and turbulence to develop. (v) The accretion rate onto the planet in the MHD simulation reaches a steady value $8 \times 10^{-3} {\rm M_\oplus yr^{-1}}$, and is similar in the viscous hydrodynamic runs. Our results suggest that gas accretion onto a forming giant planet within a magnetized PPD with dead zone allows rapid growth from Saturnian to Jovian masses. As well as being relevant for giant planet formation, these results have important implications for the formation of regular satellites around gas giant planets.

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arXiv2013

Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Signatures of Planets: II. Inclined Disks

We examine the observational appearance of partial gaps being opened by planets in protoplanetary disks, considering the effects of the inclination relative to the line of sight. The gap's trough is darkened by both shadowing and cooling, relative to the uninterrupted disk. The gap's outer wall is brightened by direct illumination and also by heating, which puffs it up so that it intercepts more starlight. In this paper, we examine the effects of inclination on resolved images of disks with and without gaps at a wide range of wavelengths. The scattering surface's offset from the disk midplane creates a brightness asymmetry along the axis of inclination, making the disk's near side appear brighter than the far side in scattered light. Finite disk thickness also causes the projected distances of equidistant points on the disk surface to be smaller on the near side of the disk as compared to the far side. Consequently, the gap shoulder on the near side of the disk should appear brighter and closer to the star than on the far side. However, if the angular resolution of the observation is coarser than the width of the brightened gap shoulder, then the gap shoulder on the far side may appear brighter because of its larger apparent size. We present a formula to recover the scale height and inclination angle of an imaged disk using simple geometric arguments and measuring disk asymmetries. Resolved images of circumstellar disks have revealed clearings and gaps, such as the transitional disk in LkCa 15. Models created using our synthetic imaging attempting to match the morphology of observed scattered light images of LkCa 15 indicate that the H-band flux deficit in the inner $\sim0.5\arcsec$ of the disk can be explained with a planet of mass greater than 0.5 Jupiter mass.

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arXiv2013

Protostellar Disk Evolution Over Million-Year Timescales with a Prescription for Magnetized Turbulence

Magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the most promising mechanism behind accretion in low-mass protostellar disks. Here we present the first analysis of the global structure and evolution of non-ideal MRI-driven T-Tauri disks on million-year timescales. We accomplish this in a 1+1D simulation by calculating magnetic diffusivities and utilizing turbulence activity criteria to determine thermal structure and accretion rate without resorting to a 3-D magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation. Our major findings are as follows. First, even for modest surface densities of just a few times the minimum-mass solar nebula, the dead zone encompasses the giant planet-forming region, preserving any compositional gradients. Second, the surface density of the active layer is nearly constant in time at roughly 10 g/cm2, which we use to derive a simple prescription for viscous heating in MRI-active disks for those who wish to avoid detailed MHD computations. Furthermore, unlike a standard disk with constant-alpha viscosity, the disk midplane does not cool off over time, though the surface cools as the star evolves along the Hayashi track. The ice line is firmly in the terrestrial planet-forming region throughout disk evolution and can move either inward or outward with time, depending on whether pileups form near the star. Finally, steady-state mass transport is a poor description of flow through an MRI-active disk. We caution that MRI activity is sensitive to many parameters, including stellar X-ray flux, grain size, gas/small grain mass ratio and magnetic field strength, and we have not performed an exhaustive parameter study here.

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arXiv2013

Magnetized Accretion and Dead Zones in Protostellar Disks

The edges of magnetically-dead zones in protostellar disks have been proposed as locations where density bumps may arise, trapping planetesimals and helping form planets. Magneto-rotational turbulence in magnetically-active zones provides both accretion of gas on the star and transport of mass to the dead zone. We investigate the location of the magnetically-active regions in a protostellar disk around a solar-type star, varying the disk temperature, surface density profile, and dust-to-gas ratio. We also consider stellar masses between 0.4 and 2 $M_\odot$, with corresponding adjustments in the disk mass and temperature. The dead zone's size and shape are found using the Elsasser number criterion with conductivities including the contributions from ions, electrons, and charged fractal dust aggregates. The charged species' abundances are found using the approach proposed by S. Okuzumi. The dead zone is in most cases defined by the ambipolar diffusion. In our maps, the dead zone takes a variety of shapes, including a fish-tail pointing away from the star and islands located on and off the midplane. The corresponding accretion rates vary with radius, indicating locations where the surface density will increase over time, and others where it will decrease. We show that density bumps do not readily grow near the dead zone's outer edge, independently of the disk parameters and the dust properties. Instead, the accretion rate peaks at the radius where the gas-phase metals freeze out. This could lead to clearing a valley in the surface density, and to a trap for pebbles located just outside the metal freeze-out line.

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arXiv2012

Dead, Undead and Zombie Zones in Protostellar Disks as a Function of Stellar Mass

We investigate the viability of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in accretion disks around both solar-type stars and very low mass stars. In particular, we determine the disk regions where the MRI can be shut off either by Ohmic resistivity (the so-called Dead and Undead Zones) or by ampipolar diffusion (a region we term the Zombie Zone). We consider 2 stellar masses: Mstar = 0.7 and 0.1 Msun. In each case, we assume that: the disk surface density profile is that of a scaled Minimum Mass Solar Nebula, with Mdisk/Mstar ~ 0.01 as currently estimated; disk ionisation is driven primarily by stellar X-rays, complemented by cosmic rays and radionuclides; and the stellar X-ray luminosity scales with bolometric luminosity as Lx/Lstar ~ 10^-3.5, as observed. Ionization rates are calculated with the MOCCASIN code, and ionisation balance determined using a simplified chemical network, including well-mixed 0.1 um grains at various levels of depletion. We find that (1) ambipolar diffusion is the primary factor controlling MRI activity in disks around both solar-type and very low mass stars. Assuming that the MRI yields the maximum possible field strength at each radius, we further find that: (2) the MRI-active layer constitutes only ~ 5-10% of the total disk mass; (3) the accretion rate (Mdot) varies radially in both magnitude and sign (inward or outward), implying time-variable accretion as well as the creation of disk gaps and overdensities, with consequences for planet formation and migration; (4) achieving the empirical accretion rates in solar-type and very low mass stars requires a depletion of well-mixed small grains by a factor of 10-1000 relative to the standard dust-to-gas mass ratio of 10^-2; and (5) the current non-detection of polarized emission from field-aligned grains in the outer disk regions is consistent with active MRI at those radii.

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arXiv2012

Non-Equilibrium Chemistry of Dynamically Evolving Prestellar Cores: I. Basic Magnetic and Non-Magnetic Models and Parameter Studies

We combine dynamical and non-equilibrium chemical modeling of evolving prestellar molecular cloud cores, and explore the evolution of molecular abundances in the contracting core. We model both magnetic cores, with varying degrees of initial magnetic support, and non-magnetic cores, with varying collapse delay times. We explore, through a parameter study, the competing effects of various model parameters in the evolving molecular abundances, including the elemental C/O ratio, the temperature, and the cosmic-ray ionization rate. We find that different models show their largest quantitative differences at the center of the core, whereas the outer layers, which evolve slower, have abundances which are severely degenerate among different dynamical models. There is a large range of possible abundance values for different models at a fixed evolutionary stage (central density), which demonstrates the large potential of chemical differentiation in prestellar cores. However, degeneracies among different models, compounded with uncertainties induced by other model parameters, make it difficult to discriminate among dynamical models. To address these difficulties, we identify abundance ratios between particular molecules, the measurement of which would have maximal potential for discrimination among the different models examined here. In particular, we find that the ratios between NH3 and CO; NH2 and CO; NH3 and HCO+ are sensitive to the evolutionary timescale, and that the ratio between HCN and OH is sensitive to the C/O ratio. Finally, we demonstrate that measurements of the central deviation (central depletion or enhancement) of abundances of certain molecules are good indicators of the dynamics of the core.

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arXiv2012

Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Signatures of Planets: I. Methodology and Validation

We examine the observational consequences of partial gaps being opened by planets in protoplanetary disks. We model the disk using a static alpha-disk model with detailed radiative transfer, parametrizing the shape and size of the partially cleared gaps based on the results of hydrodynamic simulations. Shadowing and illumination by stellar irradiation at the surface of the gap leads to increased contrast as the gap trough is deepened by shadowing and cooling and the far gap wall is puffed up by illumination and heating. In calculating observables, we find that multiple scattering is important and derive an approximation to include these effects. A gap produced by a 200 M_Earth (70 M_Earth) planet at 10 AU can lower/raise the midplane temperature of the disk by up to ~-25/+29% (~-11/+19%) by shadowing in the gap trough and illumination on the far shoulder of the gap. At the distance of Taurus, this gap would be resolvable with ~0.01" angular resolution. The gap contrast is most significant in scattered light and at thermal continuum wavelengths characteristic of the surface temperature, reducing or raising the surface brightness by up to order of magnitude. Since gaps sizes are correlated to planet mass, this is a promising way of finding and determining the masses of planets embedded in protoplanetary disks.

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arXiv2012

Dead zones as safe-havens for planetesimals: influence of disc mass and external magnetic field

(Abridged) Planetesimals embedded in a protoplanetary disc are stirred by gravitational torques exerted by density fluctuations in the surrounding turbulence. In particular, planetesimals in a disc supporting fully developed magneto-rotational turbulence are readily excited to velocity dispersions above the threshold for catastrophic disruption, halting planet formation. We aim to examine the stirring of planetesimals lying instead in a magnetically-decoupled midplane dead zone, stirred only by spiral density waves propagating out of the disc's magnetically-coupled turbulent surface layers. We extend previous studies to include a wider range of disc models, and explore the effects of varying the disc column density and external magnetic field strength. [...] The strength of the stirring is found to be independent of the gas surface density, which is contrary to the increase with disc mass expected from a simple linear wave picture. The discrepancy arises from the shearing out of density waves as they propagate into the dead zone, resulting in density structures near the midplane that exert weaker stochastic torques on average. We provide a simple analytic fit to our numerically obtained torque amplitudes that accounts for this effect. The stirring on the other hand depends sensitively on the net vertical magnetic flux, up to a saturation level above which magnetic forces dominate in the turbulent layers. For the majority of our models, the equilibrium planetesimal velocity dispersions lie between the thresholds for disrupting strong and weak aggregates, suggesting that collision outcomes will depend on material properties. However, discs with relatively weak magnetic fields yield reduced stirring, and their dead zones provide safe-havens even for the weakest planetesimals against collisional destruction.

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arXiv2011

On the dynamics of planetesimals embedded in turbulent protoplanetary discs with dead zones

(abridged) Accretion in protoplanetary discs is thought to be driven by [...] turbulence via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Recent work has shown that a planetesimal swarm embedded in a fully turbulent disc is subject to strong excitation of the velocity dispersion, leading to collisional destruction of bodies with radii R_p < 100 km. Significant diffusion of planetesimal semimajor axes also arises, leading to large-scale spreading of the planetesimal population throughout the inner regions of the protoplanetary disc, in apparent contradiction of constraints provided by the distribution of asteroids within the asteroid belt. In this paper, we examine the dynamics of planetesimals embedded in vertically stratified turbulent discs, with and without dead zones. Our main aims are to examine the turbulent excitation of the velocity dispersion, and the radial diffusion, of planetesimals in these discs. We employ three dimensional MHD simulations [...], along with an equilibrium chemistry model [...] We find that planetesimals in fully turbulent discs develop large random velocities that will lead to collisional destruction/erosion for bodies with sizes below 100 km, and undergo radial diffusion on a scale \sim 2.5 au over a 5 Myr disc life time. But planetesimals in a dead zone experience a much reduced excitation of their random velocities, and equilibrium velocity dispersions lie between the disruption thresholds for weak and strong aggregates for sizes R_p < 100 km. We also find that radial diffusion occurs over a much reduced length scale \sim 0.25 au over the disc life time, this being consistent with solar system constraints. We conclude that planetesimal growth via mutual collisions between smaller bodies cannot occur in a fully turbulent disc. By contrast, a dead zone may provide a safe haven in which km-sized planetesimals can avoid mutual destruction through collisions.

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arXiv2010

Young Stars in the Time Domain: A Cool Stars 16 Splinter Summary

Variability is a defining characteristic of young stellar systems, and optical variability has been heavily studied to select and characterize the photospheric properties of young stars. In recent years, multi-epoch observations sampling a wider range of wavelengths and time-scales have revealed a wealth of time-variable phenomena at work during the star formation process. This splinter session was convened to summarize recent progress in providing improved coverage and understanding of time-variable processes in young stars and circumstellar disks. We begin by summarizing results from several multi-epoch Spitzer campaigns, which have demonstrated that many young stellar objects evidence significant mid-IR variability. While some of these variations can be attributed to processes in the stellar photosphere, others appear to trace short time-scale changes in the circumstellar disk which can be successfully modeled with axisymmetric or non-axisymmetric structures. We also review recent studies probing variability at shorter wavelengths that provide evidence for high frequency pulsations associated with accretion outbursts, correlated optical/X-ray variability in Classical T Tauri stars, and magnetic reversals in young solar analogs.

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arXiv2010

Trapping Solids at the Inner Edge of the Dead Zone: 3-D Global MHD Simulations

The poorly-ionized interior of the protoplanetary disk is the location where dust coagulation processes may be most efficient. However even here, planetesimal formation may be limited by the loss of solid material through radial drift, and by collisional fragmentation of the particles. Our aim is to investigate the possibility that solid particles are trapped at local pressure maxima in the dynamically evolving disk. We perform the first 3-D global non-ideal MHD calculations of the disk treating the turbulence driven by the magneto-rotational instability. The domain contains an inner MRI-active region near the young star and an outer midplane dead zone, with the transition between the two modeled by a sharp increase in the magnetic diffusivity. The azimuthal magnetic fields generated in the active zone oscillate over time, changing sign about every 150 years. We thus observe the radial structure of the `butterfly pattern' seen previously in local shearing-box simulations. The mean magnetic field diffuses from the active zone into the dead zone, where the Reynolds stress nevertheless dominates. The greater total accretion stress in the active zone leads to a net reduction in the surface density, so that after 800 years an approximate steady state is reached in which a local radial maximum in the midplane pressure lies near the transition radius. We also observe the formation of density ridges within the active zone. The dead zone in our models possesses a mean magnetic field, significant Reynolds stresses and a steady local pressure maximum at the inner edge, where the outward migration of planetary embryos and the efficient trapping of solid material are possible.

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arXiv2008

Ice Lines, Planetesimal Composition and Solid Surface Density in the Solar Nebula

To date, there is no core accretion simulation that can successfully account for the formation of Uranus or Neptune within the observed 2-3 Myr lifetimes of protoplanetary disks. Since solid accretion rate is directly proportional to the available planetesimal surface density, one way to speed up planet formation is to take a full accounting of all the planetesimal-forming solids present in the solar nebula. By combining a viscously evolving protostellar disk with a kinetic model of ice formation, we calculate the solid surface density in the solar nebula as a function of heliocentric distance and time. We find three effects that strongly favor giant planet formation: (1) a decretion flow that brings mass from the inner solar nebula to the giant planet-forming region, (2) recent lab results (Collings et al. 2004) showing that the ammonia and water ice lines should coincide, and (3) the presence of a substantial amount of methane ice in the trans-Saturnian region. Our results show higher solid surface densities than assumed in the core accretion models of Pollack et al. (1996) by a factor of 3 to 4 throughout the trans-Saturnian region. We also discuss the location of ice lines and their movement through the solar nebula, and provide new constraints on the possible initial disk configurations from gravitational stability arguments.

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arXiv2008

Saturn Forms by Core Accretion in 3.4 Myr

We present two new in situ core accretion simulations of Saturn with planet formation timescales of 3.37 Myr (model S0) and 3.48 Myr (model S1), consistent with observed protostellar disk lifetimes. In model S0, we assume rapid grain settling reduces opacity due to grains from full interstellar values (Podolak 2003). In model S1, we do not invoke grain settling, instead assigning full interstellar opacities to grains in the envelope. Surprisingly, the two models produce nearly identical formation timescales and core/atmosphere mass ratios. We therefore observe a new manifestation of core accretion theory: at large heliocentric distances, the solid core growth rate (limited by Keplerian orbital velocity) controls the planet formation timescale. We argue that this paradigm should apply to Uranus and Neptune as well.

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