Related papers: Surface Layer Accretion in Conventional and Transi…
Transitional T Tauri disks have optically thin holes with radii > 10 AU, yet accrete up to the median T Tauri rate. Multiple planets inside the hole can torque the gas to high radial speeds over large distances, reducing the local surface…
Although stars accrete mass throughout the first few Myr of their lives, the physical mechanism that drives disk accretion in the T Tauri phase is uncertain, and diagnostics that probe the nature of disk accretion have been elusive,…
How do T Tauri disks accrete? The magneto-rotational instability (MRI) supplies one means, but protoplanetary disk gas is typically too poorly ionized to be magnetically active. Here we show that the MRI can, in fact, explain observed…
Requirements for magnetic coupling and accretion in the active layer of a protostellar disk are re-examined, and some implications for thermal emission from the layer are discussed. The ionization and electrical conductivity are calculated…
We analyze 3 epochs of ultraviolet (UV), optical and near-infrared (NIR) observations of the Taurus transitional disk GM Aur using the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Infrared Telescope Facility SpeX spectrograph.…
We investigate the effects of magnetic field configurations on the ionization rate by cosmic rays in protoplanetary disks. First, we consider cosmic-ray propagation from the interstellar medium (ISM) to the protoplanetary disks and showed…
Activity of the nuclei of galaxies and stellar mass systems involving disk accretion to black holes is thought to be due to (1) a small-scale turbulent magnetic field in the disk (due to the magneto-rotational instability or MRI) which…
Physical processes that redistribute or remove angular momentum from protoplanetary disks can drive mass accretion onto the star and affect the outcome of planet formation. Despite ubiquitous evidence that protoplanetary disks are engaged…
Most low-mass stars form in stellar clusters that also contain massive stars, which are sources of far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation. Theoretical models predict that this FUV radiation produces photo-dissociation regions (PDRs) on the…
We develop a fast and accurate calculation method for ionization degrees in protoplanetary and circumplanetary disks including dust grains. We apply our method to calculate the ionization degree of circumplanetary disks. It is important to…
We study protoplanetary disc evolution assuming that angular momentum transport is driven by gravitational instability at large radii, and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the hot inner regions. At radii of the order of 1 AU such…
External FUV irradiation of protoplanetary disks has an important impact on their evolution and ability to form planets. However, nearby (<300 pc) star-forming regions lack sufficiently massive young stars, while the Trapezium Cluster and…
We carry out a series of local, shearing box simulations of the outer regions of protoplanetary disks, where ambipolar diffusion is important due to low ionization levels, to better characterize the nature of turbulence and angular momentum…
Magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the most promising mechanism behind accretion in low-mass protostellar disks. Here we present the first analysis of the global structure and evolution of non-ideal MRI-driven T-Tauri disks on…
We carry out a series of local, vertically stratified shearing box simulations of protoplanetary disks that include ambipolar diffusion and a net vertical magnetic field. The ambipolar diffusion profiles we employ correspond to 30AU and…
Low-mass young stellar objects are powerful emitters of X-rays that can ionize and heat the disks and the young planets they harbour. The X-rays produce molecular ions that affect the chemistry of the disk atmospheres and their…
The saturation level of the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) in a strongly radiation dominated accretion disk is studied using a new Godunov radiation MHD code in the unstratified shearing box approximation. Since vertical gravity is…
Astronomical observations of flares from analogs of the early Sun have the potential to give critical insights into the high energy irradiation environment of protoplanetary disks. Solar-mass young stellar objects are significantly more…
Mid-infrared atomic and ionic line ratios measured in spectra of pre-main sequence stars are sensitive indicators of the hardness of the radiation field impinging on the disk surface. We present a low-resolution Spitzer IRS search for [Ar…
The intensity of the far-ultraviolet (FUV; 6-13.6 eV) interstellar radiation field (ISRF) in galaxies determines the thermal and chemical evolution of the neutral interstellar gas and is key for interpreting extragalactic observations and…