ON THE GRAVITATIONAL STABILITY OF GRAVITO-TURBULENT ACCRETION DISKS

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 824; no. 2; p. 91
• Main Authors: Lin, Min-Kai, Kratter, Kaitlin M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Astronomical Society 20.06.2016
• Subjects: ACCRETION DISKS; accretion, accretion disks; APPROXIMATIONS; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; AXIAL SYMMETRY; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; COOLING; COSMIC DUST; DIFFUSION; Disks; EXTERNAL IRRADIATION; FRAGMENTATION; GRAVITATION; HYDRODYNAMICS; instabilities; INSTABILITY; MASS; methods: analytical; OPACITY; PLANETS; planets and satellites: formation; protoplanetary disks; PROTOPLANETS; THICKNESS; TURBULENCE; Turbulent flow; VISCOSITY

ABSTRACT Low mass, self-gravitating accretion disks admit quasi-steady, "gravito-turbulent" states in which cooling balances turbulent viscous heating. However, numerical simulations show that gravito-turbulence cannot be sustained beyond dynamical timescales when the cooling rate or corre...