SPH simulations of grain growth in protoplanetary disks

Abstract

Aims: In order to understand the first stages of planet formation, when tiny grains aggregate to form planetesimals, one needs to simultaneously model grain growth, vertical settling and radial migration of dust in protoplanetary disks. In this study, we implement an analytical prescription for grain growth into a 3D two-phase hydrodynamics code to understand its effects on the dust distribution in disks. Methods: Following the analytic derivation of Stepinski & Valageas (1997), which assumes that grains stick perfectly upon collision, we implement a convenient and fast method of following grain growth in our 3D, two-phase (gas+dust) SPH code. We then follow the evolution of the size and spatial distribution of a dust population in a classical T Tauri star disk. Results: We find that the grains go through various stages of growth due to the complex interplay between gas drag, dust dynamics, and growth. Grains initially grow rapidly as they settle to the mid-plane, then experience a fast radial migration with little growth through the bulk of the disk, and finally pile-up in the inner disk where they grow more efficiently. This results in a bimodal distribution of grain sizes. Using this simple prescription of grain growth, we find that grains reach decimetric sizes in 10^5 years in the inner disk and survive the fast migration phase.

6 pages, 6 figures, accepted to A&A. Astronomy and Astrophysics (2008) in press

References in corpus (8)

• SPLASH: An interactive visualisation tool for Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations
• Particle Stirring in Turbulent Gas Disks: Including Orbital Oscillations
• Accretion disc viscosity: how big is alpha?
• Investigating grain growth in disks around southern T Tauri stars at millimetre wavelengths
• Growth and migration of solids in evolving protostellar disks I: Methods and Analytical tests
• Dust Coagulation and Settling in Layered Protoplanetary Disks
• The effect of a planet on the dust distribution in a 3D protoplanetary disk
• Gap Formation in the Dust Layer of 3D Protoplanetary Disks

Cited by in corpus (5)

• An opening criterion for dust gaps in protoplanetary discs
• Dust and gas mixtures with multiple grain species - a one-fluid approach
• An Ordered Magnetic Field in the Protoplanetary Disk of AB Aur Revealed by Mid-Infrared Polarimetry
• Diversity in the outcome of dust radial drift in protoplanetary discs
• The Transitional Disk around IRAS 04125+2902