Formation and evolution of protostellar accretion discs. II. From 3D simulation to a simple semi-analytic model of Class 0/I discs

Abstract

We use a 3D radiative non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation to investigate the formation and evolution of a young protostellar disc from a magnetized pre-stellar core. The simulation covers the first $\sim 10\mathrm{kyr}$ after protostar formation, and shows a massive, weakly magnetized disc with radius that initially grows and then saturates at $\sim 30\mathrm{au}$. The disc is gravitationally unstable with prominent large-amplitude spiral arms. We use our simulation results and a series of physical arguments to construct a predictive and quantitative physical picture of Class 0/I protostellar disc evolution from several aspects, including (i) the angular-momentum redistribution in the disc, self-regulated by gravitational instability to make most of the disc marginally unstable; (ii) the thermal profile of the disc, well-approximated by a balance between radiative cooling and accretion heating; and (iii) the magnetic-field strength and magnetic-braking rate inside the disc, regulated by non-ideal magnetic diffusion. Using these physical insights, we build a simple 1D semi-analytic model of disc evolution. We show that this 1D model, when coupled to a computationally inexpensive simulation for the evolution of the surrounding pseudodisc, can be used reliably to predict disc evolution in the Class 0/I phase. The predicted long-term evolution of disc size, which saturates at $\sim 30\mathrm{au}$ and eventually shrinks, is consistent with a recent observational survey of Class 0/I discs. Such hierarchical modelling of disc evolution circumvents the computational difficulty of tracing disc evolution through Class 0/I phase with direct, numerically converged simulations.

27 pages, 25 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS

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• FERIA: Flat Envelope Model with Rotation and Infall under Angular Momentum Conservation
• A 16 au Binary in the Class 0 Protostar L1157 MMS
• Centrifugal Barrier and Super-Keplerian Rotation in Protostellar Disk Formation
• The Disk Population in a Distant Massive Protocluster