arXiv subjects

Xue-Ning Bai

Publications and source records attributed to Xue-Ning Bai.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Magnetohydrodynamic-Particle-in-Cell Method for Coupling Cosmic Rays with a Thermal Plasma: Application to Non-relativistic Shocks

We formulate a magnetohydrodynamic-particle-in-cell (MHD-PIC) method for describing the interaction between collisionless cosmic ray (CR) particles and a thermal plasma. The thermal plasma is treated as a fluid, obeying equations of ideal MHD, while CRs are treated as relativistic Lagrangian particles subject to the Lorentz force. Backreaction from CRs to the gas is included in the form of momentum and energy feedback. In addition, we include the electromagnetic feedback due to CR-induced Hall effect that becomes important when the electron-ion drift velocity of the background plasma induced by CRs approaches the Alfvén velocity. Our method is applicable on scales much larger than the ion inertial length, bypassing the microscopic scales that must be resolved in conventional PIC methods, while retaining the full kinetic nature of the CRs. We have implemented and tested this method in the Athena MHD code, where the overall scheme is second-order accurate and fully conservative. As a first application, we describe a numerical experiment to study particle acceleration in non-relativistic shocks. Using a simplified prescription for ion injection, we reproduce the shock structure and the CR energy spectra obtained with more self-consistent hybrid-PIC simulations, but at substantially reduced computational cost. We also show that the CR-induced Hall effect reduces the growth rate of the Bell instability and affects the gas dynamics in the vicinity of the shock front. As a step forward, we are able to capture the transition of particle acceleration from non relativistic to relativistic regimes, with momentum spectrum $f(p)\sim p^{-4}$ connecting smoothly through the transition, as expected from the theory of Fermi acceleration.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Signatures of MRI-Driven Turbulence in Protoplanetary Disks: Predictions for ALMA Observations

Spatially resolved observations of molecular line emission have the potential to yield unique constraints on the nature of turbulence within protoplanetary disks. Using a combination of local non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations and radiative transfer calculations, tailored to properties of the disk around HD 163296, we assess the ability of ALMA to detect turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Our local simulations show that the MRI produces small-scale turbulent velocity fluctuations that increase in strength with height above the mid-plane. For a set of simulations at different disk radii, we fit a Maxell-Boltzmann distribution to the turbulent velocity and construct a turbulent broadening parameter as a function of radius and height. We input this broadening into radiative transfer calculations to quantify observational signatures of MRI-driven disk turbulence. We find that the ratio of the peak line flux to the flux at line center is a robust diagnostic of turbulence that is only mildly degenerate with systematic uncertainties in disk temperature. For the CO(3-2) line, which we expect to probe the most magnetically active slice of the disk column, variations in the predicted peak-to-trough ratio between our most and least turbulent models span a range of approximately 15%. Additional independent constraints can be derived from the morphology of spatially resolved line profiles, and we estimate the resolution required to detect turbulence on different spatial scales. We discuss the role of lower optical depth molecular tracers, which trace regions closer to the disk mid-plane where velocities in MRI-driven models are systematically lower.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2015

Numerical Simulation of Hot Accretion Flows (III): Revisiting wind properties using trajectory approach

Previous MHD simulations have shown that wind must exist in black hole hot accretion flows. In this paper, we continue our study by investigating the detailed properties of wind, such as mass flux and poloidal speed, and the mechanism of wind production. For this aim, we make use of a three dimensional GRMHD simulation of hot accretion flows around a Schwarzschild black hole. The simulation is designed so that the magnetic flux is not accumulated significantly around the black hole. To distinguish real wind from turbulent outflows, we track the trajectories of the virtual Largrangian particles from simulation data. We find two types of real outflows, i.e., a quasi-relativistic jet close to the axis and a sub-relativistic wind subtending a much larger solid angle. Most of the wind originates from the surface layer of the accretion flow. The poloidal wind speed almost remains constant once they are produced, but the flux-weighted wind speed roughly follows $v_{\rm p, wind}(r)\approx 0.25 v_k(r)$. The mass flux of jet is much lower but the speed is much higher, $v_{\rm p,jet}\sim (0.3-0.4) c$. Consequently, both the energy and momentum fluxes of the wind are much larger than those of the jet. We find that the wind is produced and accelerated primarily by the combination of centrifugal force and magnetic pressure gradient, while the jet is mainly accelerated by magnetic pressure gradient. Finally, we find that the wind production efficiency $ε_{\rm wind}\equiv\dot{E}_{\rm wind}/\dot{M}_{\rm BH}c^2\sim 1/1000$, in good agreement with the value required from large-scale galaxy simulations with AGN feedback.

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arXiv2014

Dust Transport in MRI Turbulent Disks: Ideal and Non-ideal MHD with Ambipolar Diffusion

We study dust transport in turbulent protoplanetary disks using three-dimensional global unstratified magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations including Lagrangian dust particles. The turbulence is driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) with either ideal or non-ideal MHD that includes ambipolar diffusion (AD). In ideal MHD simulations, the surface density evolution (except for dust that drifts fastest), turbulent diffusion, and vertical scale height of dust can all be reproduced by simple one-dimensoinal and/or analytical models. However, in AD dominated simulations which simulate protoplanetary disks beyond 10s of AU, the vertical scale height of dust is larger than previously predicted. To understand this anomaly in more detail, we carry out both unstratified and stratified local shearing box simulations with Lagrangian particles, and find that turbulence in AD dominated disks has very different properties (e.g., temporal autocorrelation functions and power spectra) than turbulence in ideal MHD disks, which leads to quite different particle diffusion efficiency. For example, MRI turbulence with AD has a longer correlation time for the vertical velocity, which causes significant vertical particle diffusion and large dust scale height. In ideal MHD the Schmidt numbers ($Sc$) for radial and vertical turbulent diffusion are $Sc_{r}\sim 1$ and $Sc_{z}\gtrsim 3$, but in the AD dominated regime both $Sc_{r}$ and $Sc_{z}$ are $\lesssim 1$. Particle concentration in pressure bumps induced by MRI turbulence has also been studied. Since non-ideal MHD effects dominate most regions in protoplanetary disks, our study suggests that modeling dust transport in turbulence driven by MRI with non-ideal MHD effects is important for understanding dust transport in realistic protoplanetary disks.

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arXiv2014

Magnetic Flux Concentration and Zonal Flows in Magnetorotational Instability Turbulence

Accretion disks are likely threaded by external vertical magnetic flux, which enhances the level of turbulence via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Using shearing-box simulations, we find that such external magnetic flux also strongly enhances the amplitude of banded radial density variations known as zonal flows. Moreover, we report that vertical magnetic flux is strongly concentrated toward low-density regions of the zonal flow. Mean vertical magnetic field can be more than doubled in low-density regions, and reduced to nearly zero in high density regions in some cases. In ideal MHD, the scale on which magnetic flux concentrates can reach a few disk scale heights. In the non-ideal MHD regime with strong ambipolar diffusion, magnetic flux is concentrated into thin axisymmetric shells at some enhanced level, whose size is typically less than half a scale height. We show that magnetic flux concentration is closely related to the fact that the magnetic diffusivity of the MRI turbulence is anisotropic. In addition to a conventional Ohmic-like turbulent resistivity, we find that there is a correlation between the vertical velocity and horizontal magnetic field fluctuations that produces a mean electric field that acts to anti-diffuse the vertical magnetic flux. The anisotropic turbulent diffusivity has analogies to the Hall effect, and may have important implications for magnetic flux transport in accretion disks. The physical origin of magnetic flux concentration may be related to the development of channel flows followed by magnetic reconnection, which acts to decrease the mass-to-flux ratio in localized regions. The association of enhanced zonal flows with magnetic flux concentration may lead to global pressure bumps in protoplanetary disks that helps trap dust particles and facilitates planet formation.

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arXiv2014

Hall-effect Controlled Gas Dynamics in Protoplanetary Disks: II. Full 3D Simulations toward the Outer Disk

We perform 3D stratified shearing-box MHD simulations on the gas dynamics of protoplanetary disks threaded by net vertical magnetic field Bz. All three non-ideal MHD effects, Ohmic resistivity, the Hall effect and ambipolar diffusion are included in a self-consistent manner based on equilibrium chemistry. We focus on regions toward outer disk radii, from 5-60AU, where Ohmic resistivity tends to become negligible, ambipolar diffusion dominates over an extended region across disk height, and the Hall effect largely controls the dynamics near the disk midplane. We find that around R=5AU, the system launches a laminar/weakly turbulent magnetocentrifugal wind when the net vertical field Bz is not too weak, as expected. Moreover, the wind is able to achieve and maintain a configuration with reflection symmetry at disk midplane. The case with anti-aligned field polarity (Omega. Bz<0) is more susceptible to the MRI when Bz drops, leading to an outflow oscillating in radial directions and very inefficient angular momentum transport. At the outer disk around and beyond R=30AU, the system shows vigorous MRI turbulence in the surface layer due to far-UV ionization, which efficiently drives disk accretion. The Hall effect affects the stability of the midplane region to the MRI, leading to strong/weak Maxwell stress for aligned/anti-aligned field polarities. Nevertheless, the midplane region is only very weakly turbulent. Overall, the basic picture is analogous to the conventional layered accretion scenario applied to the outer disk. In addition, we find that the vertical magnetic flux is strongly concentrated into thin, azimuthally extended shells in most of our simulations beyond 15AU. This is a generic phenomenon unrelated to the Hall effect, and leads to enhanced zonal flow. Observational and theoretical implications, as well as future prospects are briefly discussed.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

Hall-effect Controlled Gas Dynamics in Protoplanetary Disks: I. Wind Solutions at the Inner Disk

The gas dynamics of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) is largely controlled by non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects including Ohmic resistivity, the Hall effect and ambipolar diffusion. Among these the role of the Hall effect is the least explored and most poorly understood. We have included all three non-ideal MHD effects in a self-consistent manner to investigate the role of the Hall effect on PPD gas dynamics using local shearing-box simulations. In this first paper, we focus on the inner region of PPDs, where previous studies excluding the Hall effect have revealed that the inner disk up to ~10 AU is largely laminar, with accretion driven by a magnetocentrifugal wind. We confirm this basic picture and show that the Hall effect introduces modest modifications to the wind solutions, depending on the polarity of the large-scale poloidal magnetic field B_0 threading the disk. When B_0.Omega>0, the horizontal magnetic field is strongly amplified toward the disk interior, leading to a stronger disk wind (by ~50% or less in terms of the wind-driven accretion rate). The enhanced horizontal field also leads to much stronger large-scale Maxwell stress (magnetic braking) that contributes to a considerable fraction of the wind-driven accretion rate. When B_0.Omega<0, the horizontal magnetic field is reduced, leading to a weaker disk wind (by ~20%) and negligible magnetic braking. Moreover, we find that when B_0.Omega>0, the laminar region extends farther to ~15 AU before the magneto-rotational instability sets in, while for B_0.Omega<0, the laminar region extends only to ~3-5 AU for a typical PPD accretion rates. Scaling relations for the wind properties, especially the wind-driven accretion rate, are provided for aligned and anti-aligned field geometries. Issues with the symmetry of the wind solutions and grain abundance are also discussed.

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arXiv2013

Pegasus: A New Hybrid-Kinetic Particle-in-Cell Code for Astrophysical Plasma Dynamics

We describe Pegasus, a new hybrid-kinetic particle-in-cell code tailored for the study of astrophysical plasma dynamics. The code incorporates an energy-conserving particle integrator into a stable, second-order--accurate, three-stage predictor-predictor-corrector integration algorithm. The constrained transport method is used to enforce the divergence-free constraint on the magnetic field. A delta-f scheme is included to facilitate a reduced-noise study of systems in which only small departures from an initial distribution function are anticipated. The effects of rotation and shear are implemented through the shearing-sheet formalism with orbital advection. These algorithms are embedded within an architecture similar to that used in the popular astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics code Athena, one that is modular, well-documented, easy to use, and efficiently parallelized for use on thousands of processors. We present a series of tests in one, two, and three spatial dimensions that demonstrate the fidelity and versatility of the code.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Turbulence In the Outer Regions of Protoplanetary Disks. II. Strong Accretion Driven by a Vertical Magnetic Field

We carry out a series of local, vertically stratified shearing box simulations of protoplanetary disks that include ambipolar diffusion and a net vertical magnetic field. The ambipolar diffusion profiles we employ correspond to 30AU and 100AU in a minimum mass solar nebula (MMSN) disk model, which consists of a far-UV-ionized surface layer and low-ionization disk interior. These simulations serve as a follow up to Simon et al. (2013), in which we found that without a net vertical field, the turbulent stresses that result from the magnetorotational instability (MRI) are too weak to account for observed accretion rates. The simulations in this work show a very strong dependence of the accretion stresses on the strength of the background vertical field; as the field strength increases, the stress amplitude increases. For gas to magnetic pressure ratios of 1e4 and 1e5, we find accretion rates between 1e-8 and 1e-7 solar masses per year. These accretion rates agree with observational constraints, suggesting a vertical magnetic field strength between 60 and 200 microgauss at 30AU and 10 and 30 microgauss at 100AU in a MMSN disk. Furthermore, the stress has a non-negligible component due to a magnetic wind. For sufficiently strong vertical field strengths, MRI turbulence is quenched, and the flow becomes largely laminar, with accretion proceeding through large scale correlations in the radial and toroidal field components as well as through the magnetic wind. In all simulations, the presence of a low ionization region near the disk mid-plane, which we call the ambipolar damping zone, results in reduced stresses there.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Wind-driven Accretion in Protoplanetary Disks --- II: Radial Dependence and Global Picture

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical effects play a crucial role in determining the mechanism and efficiency of angular momentum transport as well as the level of turbulence in protoplanetary disks (PPDs), which are key to understanding PPD evolution and planet formation. It was shown in our previous work that at 1 AU, the magnetorotational instability (MRI) is completely suppressed when both Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion (AD) are taken into account, resulting in a laminar flow with accretion driven by magnetocentrifugal wind. In this work, we study the radial dependence of the laminar wind solution using local shearing-box simulations. Scaling relation on the angular momentum transport for the laminar wind is obtained, and we find that the wind-driven accretion rate can be approximated as M_dot~0.91x10^(-8)R_AU^(1.21)(B_z/10mG)^(0.93)M_Sun/yr, where B_z is the strength of the large-scale vertical magnetic field threading the disk. The result is independent of disk surface density. Four criteria are outlined for the existence of the laminar wind solution: 1). Ohmic resistivity dominated midplane region; 2). AD dominated disk upper layer; 3). Presence of (not too weak) net vertical magnetic flux. 4). Sufficiently well ionized gas beyond disk surface. All these criteria are likely to be met in the inner region of the disk from ~0.3 AU to about 5-10 AU for typical PPD accretion rates. Beyond this radius, angular momentum transport is likely to proceed due to a combination of the MRI and disk wind, and eventually dominated by the MRI (in the presence of strong AD) in the outer disk. Our simulation results provide key ingredients for a new paradigm on the accretion processes in PPDs.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Wind-driven Accretion in Protoplanetary Disks. I: Suppression of the Magnetorotational Instability and Launching of the Magnetocentrifugal Wind

We perform local, vertically stratified shearing-box MHD simulations of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) at a fiducial radius of 1 AU that take into account the effects of both Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion (AD). The magnetic diffusion coefficients are evaluated self-consistently from a look-up table based on equilibrium chemistry. We first show that the inclusion of AD dramatically changes the conventional picture of layered accretion. Without net vertical magnetic field, the system evolves into a toroidal field dominated configuration with extremely weak turbulence in the far-UV ionization layer that is far too inefficient to drive rapid accretion. In the presence of a weak net vertical field (plasma beta~10^5 at midplane), we find that the MRI is completely suppressed, resulting in a fully laminar flow throughout the vertical extent of the disk. A strong magnetocentrifugal wind is launched that efficiently carries away disk angular momentum and easily accounts for the observed accretion rate in PPDs. Moreover, under a physical disk wind geometry, all the accretion flow proceeds through a strong current layer with thickness of ~0.3H that is offset from disk midplane with radial velocity of up to 0.4 times the sound speed. Both Ohmic resistivity and AD are essential for the suppression of the MRI and wind launching. The efficiency of wind transport increases with increasing net vertical magnetic flux and the penetration depth of the FUV ionization. Our laminar wind solution has important implications on planet formation and global evolution of PPDs.

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arXiv2013

Local Study of Accretion Disks with a Strong Vertical Magnetic Field: Magnetorotational Instability and Disk Outflow

We perform 3D vertically-stratified local shearing-box ideal MHD simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) that include a net vertical magnetic flux, which is characterized by beta_0 (ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure of the net vertical field at midplane). We have considered beta_0=10^2, 10^3 and 10^4 and in the first two cases the most unstable linear MRI modes are well resolved in the simulations. We find that the behavior of the MRI turbulence strongly depends on beta_0: The radial transport of angular momentum increases with net vertical flux, achieving alpha=0.08 for beta_0=10^4 and alpha>1.0 for beta_0=100, where alpha is the Shakura-Sunyaev parameter. A critical value lies at beta_0=10^3: For beta_0>10^3, the disk consists of a gas pressure dominated midplane and a magnetically dominated corona. The turbulent strength increases with net flux, and angular momentum transport is dominated by turbulent fluctuations. The magnetic dynamo that leads to cyclic flips of large-scale fields still exists, but becomes more sporadic as net flux increases. For beta_0<10^3, the entire disk becomes magnetic dominated. The turbulent strength saturates, and the magnetic dynamo is quenched. Stronger large-scale fields are generated with increasing net flux, which dominates angular momentum transport. A strong outflow is launched from the disk by the magnetocentrifugal mechanism, and the mass flux increases linearly with net vertical flux and shows sign of saturation at beta_0=10^2. However, the outflow is unlikely to be directly connected to a global wind: for beta_0>10^3, the large-scale field has no permanent bending direction due to dynamo activities, while for beta_0<10^3, the outflows from the top and bottom sides of the disk bend towards opposite directions, inconsistent with a physical disk wind geometry. Global simulations are needed to address the fate of the outflow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

Turbulence In the Outer Regions of Protoplanetary Disks. I. Weak Accretion with No Vertical Magnetic Flux

We use local numerical simulations to investigate the strength and nature of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks, where ambipolar diffusion is the dominant non-ideal MHD effect. The simulations include vertical stratification and assume zero net vertical magnetic flux. We employ a super time-stepping technique to ameliorate the Courant restriction on the diffusive time step. We find that in idealized stratified simulations, with a spatially constant ambipolar Elsasser number Am, turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) behaves in a similar manner as in prior unstratified calculations. Turbulence dies away for Am < 1, and becomes progressively more vigorous as ambipolar diffusion is decreased. Near-ideal MHD behavior is recovered for Am > 1000. In the intermediate regime (10 < Am < 1000) ambipolar diffusion leads to substantial increases in both the period of the MRI dynamo cycle and the characteristic scales of magnetic field structures. To quantify the impact of ambipolar physics on disk accretion, we run simulations at 30 AU and 100 AU that include a vertical Am profile based upon far ultraviolet (FUV) ionized disk models. These models develop a vertically layered structure analogous to the Ohmic dead zone that is present at smaller radii. We find that, although the levels of surface turbulence can be strong (and consistent with constraints on turbulent line widths at these radii), the inferred accretion rates are at least an order of magnitude smaller than those observed in T Tauri stars. This discrepancy is very likely due to the assumption of zero vertical magnetic field in our simulations and suggests that vertical magnetic fields are essential for MRI-driven accretion in the outer regions of protoplanetary disks.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2012

Hot and Cold Galactic Gas in the NGC 2563 Galaxy Group

The role of environmentally induced gas stripping in driving galaxy evolution in groups remains poorly understood. Here we present extensive Chandra and Very Large Array mosaic observations of the hot and cold interstellar medium within the members of the nearby, X-ray bright NGC 2563 group, a prime target for studies of the role of gas stripping and interactions in relatively small host halos. Our observations cover nearly all group members within a projected radius of 1.15 Mpc (~1.4 R_vir) of the group center, down to a limiting X-ray luminosity and HI mass of 3e39 erg/s and 2e8 M_sun, respectively. The X-ray data are consistent with efficient ram pressure stripping of the hot gas halos of early-type galaxies near the group core, but no X-ray tails are seen and the limited statistics preclude strong conclusions. The HI results suggest moderate HI mass loss from the group members when compared to similar field galaxies. Six of the 20 HI-detected group members show HI evidence of ongoing interactions with other galaxies or with the intragroup medium. Suggestive evidence is further seen for galaxies with close neighbors in position-velocity space to show relatively low HI content, consistent with tidal removal of HI. The results thus indicate removal of both hot and cold gas from the group members via a combination of ram pressure stripping and tidal interactions. We also find that 16 of the 20 HI detections occur on one side of the group, reflecting an unusual morphological segregation whose origin remains unclear.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Magnetorotational Instability Driven Accretion in Protoplanetary Disks

The gas dynamics in protoplanetary disks (PPDs) is strongly affected by non-ideal MHD effects. Using a complex chemical reaction network with standard prescriptions for X-ray and cosmic-ray ionizations, as well as the most up-to-date results from numerical simulations, we study the non-ideal MHD effects on the magnetorotational instability (MRI) and angular momentum transport in PPDs. We first show that no matter grains are included or not, the recombination time is always shorter than the orbital time in the bulk of PPDs, justifying the validity of local ionization equilibrium. The full conductivity tensor at different disk radii and heights is evaluated, with the MRI active region determined by requiring that (1) the Ohmic Elsasser number be greater than 1; (2) the ratio of gas to magnetic pressure beta be greater than beta_min(Am) as identified by Bai & Stone (2011), where Am is the Elsasser number for ambipolar diffusion. With full flexibility as to the magnetic field strength, we provide a general framework for estimating the MRI-driven accretion rate M_dot and the magnetic field strength in the MRI-active layer. We find that the MRI-active layer always exists at any disk radii as long as the magnetic field in PPDs is sufficiently weak. However, the optimistically predicted M_dot in the inner disk (r=1-10 AU) appears insufficient to account for the observed range of accretion rate in PPDs (around 1e-8M_Sun/yr) even in the grain-free calculation, and the presence of solar abundance sub-micron grains further reduces M_dot by one to two orders of magnitude. Our results suggest that stronger sources of ionization, and/or additional mechanisms such as magnetized wind are needed to explain the observed accretion rates in PPDs. In contrast, our predicted M_dot is on the order of 1e-9M_Sun/yr in the outer disk, consistent with the observed accretion rates in transitional disks. (Abridged)

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arXiv2011

The Role of Tiny Grains on the Accretion Process in Protoplanetary Disks

Tiny grains such as PAHs have been thought to dramatically reduce the coupling between gas and magnetic fields in weakly ionized gas such as in protoplanetary disks (PPDs) because they provide tremendous surface area to recombine free electrons. The presence of tiny grains in PPDs thus raises the question of whether the magnetorotational instability (MRI) is able to drive rapid accretion to be consistent with observations. Charged tiny grains have similar conduction properties as ions, whose presence leads to qualitatively new behaviors in the conductivity tensor, characterized by n_bar/n_e>1, where n_e and n_bar denote the number densities of free electrons and all other charged species respectively. In particular, Ohmic conductivity becomes dominated by charged grains rather than electrons when n_bar/n_e exceeds about 10^3, and Hall and ambipolar diffusion (AD) coefficients are reduced by a factor of (n_bar/n_e)^2 in the AD dominated regime relative to that in the Ohmic regime. Applying the methodology of Bai (2011), we find that in PPDs, when PAHs are sufficiently abundant (>1e-9 per H_2), there exists a transition radius r_trans of about 10-20 AU, beyond which the MRI active layer extends to the disk midplane. At r r_trans, we find that remarkably, the predicted M_dot exceeds the grain-free case due to a net reduction of AD by charged tiny grains, and reaches a few times 1e-8M_Sun/yr. This is sufficient to account for the observed M_dot in transitional disks. Larger grains (>0.1 micron) are too massive to reach such high abundance as tiny grains and to facilitate the accretion process.

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arXiv2011

Effect of Ambipolar Diffusion on the Non-linear Evolution of Magnetorotational Instability in Weakly Ionized Disks

We study the role of ambipolar diffusion (AD) on the non-linear evolution of the MRI in protoplanetary disks using the strong coupling limit, which applies when the electron recombination time is much shorter than the orbital time. The effect of AD in this limit is characterized by the dimensionless number Am, the frequency of which neutral particles collide with ions normalized to the orbital frequency. We perform three-dimensional unstratified shearing-box simulations of the MRI over a wide range of Am as well as different magnetic field strengths and geometries. The saturation level of the MRI turbulence depends on the magnetic geometry and increases with the net magnetic flux. There is an upper limit to the net flux for sustained turbulence, corresponding to the requirement that the most unstable vertical wavelength be less than the disk scale height. Correspondingly, at a given Am, there exists a maximum value of the turbulent stress alpha_max. For Am<1, the largest stress is associated with a field geometry that has both net vertical and toroidal flux. In this case, we confirm the results of linear analyses that show the fastest growing mode has a non-zero radial wave number with growth rate exceeding the pure vertical field case. We find there is a very tight correlation between the turbulent stress (alpha) and the plasma beta=P_gas/P_mag~1/(2alpha) at the saturated state of the MRI turbulence regardless of field geometry, and alpha_max rapidly decreases with decreasing Am. In particular, we quote alpha_max~0.007 for Am=1 and alpha_max~0.0006 for Am=0.1.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2010

Dynamics of Solids in the Midplane of Protoplanetary Disks: Implications for Planetesimal Formation

(Abridged) We present local 2D and 3D hybrid numerical simulations of particles and gas in the midplane of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) using the Athena code. The particles are coupled to gas aerodynamically, with particle-to-gas feedback included. Magnetorotational turbulence is ignored as an approximation for the dead zone of PPDs, and we ignore particle self-gravity to study the precursor of planetesimal formation. Our simulations include a wide size distribution of particles, ranging from strongly coupled particles with dimensionless stopping time tau_s=Omega t_stop=1e-4 to marginally coupled ones with tau_s=1 (where Omega is the orbital frequency, t_stop is the particle friction time), and a wide range of solid abundances. Our main results are: 1. Particles with tau_s>=0.01 actively participate in the streaming instability, generate turbulence and maintain the height of the particle layer before Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is triggered. 2. Strong particle clumping as a consequence of the streaming instability occurs when a substantial fraction of the solids are large (tau_s>=0.01) and when height-integrated solid to gas mass ratio Z is super-solar. 3. The radial drift velocity is reduced relative to the conventional Nakagawa-Sekiya-Hayashi (NSH) model, especially at high Z. We derive a generalized NSH equilibrium solution for multiple particle species which fits our results very well. 4. Collision velocity between particles with tau_s>=0.01 is dominated by differential radial drift, and is strongly reduced at larger Z. 5. There exist two positive feedback loops with respect to the enrichment of local disk solid abundance and grain growth. All these effects promote planetesimal formation.

astro-ph.EP↗