Numerical simulations of self-gravitating magnetized disks

Abstract

We present the first global simulations of self-gravitating magnetized tori. The simulations are performed with Zeus-2D and GLOBAL. We find the magnetorotational instability (MRI) to behave similarly in a self-gravitating environment as in previous simulations of non self-gravitating systems: enhancement of turbulent angular momentum transport follows the linear phase. The torus quickly develops a two component structure composed of an inner thick disk in Keplerian rotation and an outer massive disk. We compare this result with zero mass global simulations in 2D, and also present preliminary results of 3D simulations.

6 pages, 6 figures, kluwer.cls, To appear in the proceedings of "Magnetic fields and star formation: Theory versus observations", Madrid,April 21-25 2003