Axisymmetric simulations of the convective overstability in protoplanetary discs

Abstract

Protoplanetary discs at certain radii exhibit adverse radial entropy gradients that can drive oscillatory convection (`convective overstability'; COS). The ensuing hydrodynamical activity may reshape the radial thermal structure of the disc while mixing solid material radially and vertically or, alternatively, concentrating it in vortical structures. We perform local axisymmetric simulations of the COS using the code SNOOPY, showing first how parasites halt the instability's exponential growth, and second, the different saturation routes it takes subsequently. As the Reynolds and (pseudo-) Richardson numbers increase, the system moves successively from (a) a weakly nonlinear state characterised by relatively ordered nonlinear waves, to (b) wave turbulence, and finally to (c) the formation of intermittent and then persistent zonal flows. In three-dimensions, we expect the latter flows to spawn vortices in the orbital plane. Given the very high Reynolds numbers in protoplanetary discs, the third regime should be the most prevalent. As a consequence, we argue that the COS is an important dynamical process in planet formation, especially near features such as dead zone edges, ice lines, gaps, and dust rings.

References in corpus (69)

• First Results from High Angular Resolution ALMA Observations Toward the HL Tau Region
• Passive irradiated circumstellar disks with an inner hole
• Rossby Wave Instability of Keplerian Accretion Disks
• Dynamics of Protoplanetary Disks
• Turbulence in Accretion Disks. Vorticity Generation and Angular Momentum Transport via the Global Baroclinic Instability
• Dust and Gas in the disc of HL Tauri: Surface density, dust settling, and dust-to-gas ratio
• Forming Planetesimals in Solar and Extrasolar Nebulae
• High Resolution Submillimeter Constraints on Circumstellar Disk Structure
• Protoplanetary Disk Structures in Ophiuchus II: Extension to Fainter Sources
• Discovery of Small-Scale Spiral Structures in the Disk of SAO 206462 (HD 135344B): Implications for the Physical State of the Disk from Spiral Density Wave Theory
• Zonal Flows and Long-Lived Axisymmetric Pressure Bumps in Magnetorotational Turbulence
• A dual-frequency sub-arcsecond study of proto-planetary disks at mm wavelengths: First evidence for radial variations of the dust properties
• Structure and evolution of pre-main sequence circumstellar disks
• Weak Turbulence in the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk Revealed by ALMA CO Observations
• A Three-Dimensional View of Turbulence: Constraints on Turbulent Motions in the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk using DCO${}^{+}$
• Analytical protostellar disk models 1: the effect of internal dissipation and surface irradiation on the structure of disks and the location of the snow line around Sun-like stars
• Impact of dimensionless numbers on the efficiency of MRI-induced turbulent transport
• ALMA unveils rings and gaps in the protoplanetary system HD 169142: signatures of two giant protoplanets
• Saturation of the R-mode Instability
• On the Location of the Snow Line in a Protoplanetary Disk
• Turbulence in the TW Hya Disk
• Unveiling the gas and dust disk structure in HD 163296 using ALMA observations
• The subcritical baroclinic instability in local accretion disc models
• Cooling Requirements for the Vertical Shear Instability in Protoplanetary Disks
• Convective Overstability in radially stratified accretion disks under thermal relaxation
• On the relevance of subcritical hydrodynamic turbulence to accretion disk transport
• Physical properties of dusty protoplanetary disks in Lupus: evidence for viscous evolution?
• Magnetic self-organisation in Hall-dominated magnetorotational turbulence
• On the Stability of Elliptical Vortices in Accretion Discs
• Emergent Mesoscale Phenomena in Magnetized Accretion Disc Turbulence
• Baroclinic Vorticity Production in Protoplanetary Disks; Part I: Vortex Formation
• A new model for mixing by double-diffusive convection (semi-convection): I. The conditions for layer formation
• Turbulent mixing and layer formation in double-diffusive convection: 3D numerical simulations and theory
• Critical balance in magnetohydrodynamic, rotating and stratified turbulence: towards a universal scaling conjecture
• On linear dust-gas streaming instabilities in protoplanetary discs
• Convective overstability in accretion disks: 3D linear analysis and nonlinear saturation
• The baroclinic instability in the context of layered accretion. Self-sustained vortices and their magnetic stability in local compressible unstratified models of protoplanetary disks
• Transport and Accretion in Planet-Forming Disks
• A new model for mixing by double-diffusive convection (semi-convection). II. The transport of heat and composition through layers
• The initial conditions for planet formation: Turbulence driven by hydrodynamical instabilities in disks around young stars
• Gravity-Modes in ZZ Ceti Stars: IV. Amplitude Saturation by Parametric Instability
• Dynamics of fingering convection I: Small-scale fluxes and large-scale instabilities
• The Case of AB Aurigae's Disk in Polarized Light: Is There Truly a Gap?
• Dynamics of fingering convection II: The formation of thermohaline staircases
• 3D-MHD simulations of an accretion disk with star-disk boundary layer
• Temperature Structure in the Inner Regions of Protoplanetary Disks: Inefficient Accretion Heating Controlled by Nonideal Magnetohydrodynamics
• MRI channel flows and their parasites
• Vortex formation in protoplanetary discs induced by the vertical shear instability
• Mapping the Conditions for Hydrodynamic Instability on Steady State Accretion Models of Protoplanetary Disks
• Efficiency of thermal relaxation by radiative processes in protoplanetary discs: constraints on hydrodynamic turbulence
• Vortices and the saturation of the vertical shear instability in protoplanetary disks
• On the convective overstability in protoplanetary discs
• Local models of astrophysical discs
• On the survival of zombie vortices in protoplanetary discs
• Pebble trapping in vortices: three-dimensional simulations
• Semiconvection: numerical simulations
• Semiconvection: theory
• MRI-active inner regions of protoplanetary discs. I. A detailed model of disc structure
• The dynamics of inner dead-zone boundaries in protoplanetary disks
• Angular momentum transport by the GSF instability: nonlinear simulations at the equator
• A comparison of local simulations and reduced models of MRI-induced turbulence
• Near-resonant instability of geostrophic modes: beyond Greenspan's theorem
• On dust-gas gravitational instabilities in protoplanetary discs
• On the local stability of vortices in differentially rotating discs
• On the necessary conditions for bursts of convection within the rapidly rotating cylindrical annulus
• HFQPOs and discoseismic mode excitation in eccentric, relativistic discs. I. Hydrodynamic simulations
• Migration of gap-opening planets in 3D stellar-irradiated accretion disks
• Resistive double-diffusive instability in the dead-zones of protostellar disks
• Zonal flow evolution and overstability in accretion discs

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The saturation of the VSI in protoplanetary disks via parametric instability
• Morphology and dynamical stability of self-gravitating vortices: Numerical simulations
• Vortex weighing and dating of planets in protoplanetary discs
• The Interplay of Parametric and Magnetorotational Instabilities in Oscillatory Shear Flows