Polar alignment of a protoplanetary disk around an eccentric binary

Abstract

We use three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to show that an initially mildly misaligned circumbinary accretion disk around an eccentric binary can evolve to an orientation that is perpendicular to the orbital plane of the binary (polar alignment). As the disk evolves to the perpendicular state, it undergoes nodal libration oscillations of the tilt angle and the longitude of the ascending node. Dissipation within the disk causes the oscillations to damp. The process operates above a critical initial misalignment angle that depends upon the eccentricity of the binary and the mass of the disk. For binary eccentricity of 0.5, the process operates typically for disk masses smaller than a few percent of the binary mass and initial tilt angle of more than 40 degrees. This evolution has important implications for planet formation around eccentric binary star systems.

Accepted for publication in ApJL

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Signatures of broken protoplanetary discs in scattered light and in sub-millimetre observations
• Inclination Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks Around Eccentric Binaries
• Linear Analysis of the Evolution of Nearly Polar Low Mass Circumbinary Discs
• The Architecture of the GW Ori Young Triple Star System and Its Disk: Dynamical Masses, Mutual Inclinations, and Recurrent Eclipses