Related papers: Supersonic Shear Instabilities in Astrophysical Bo…
We report on a numerical study of the shear flow of a simple two-dimensional model of a granular material under controlled normal stress between two parallel smooth, frictional walls, moving with opposite velocities $\pm$V . Discrete…
We discuss the possibility that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances with characteristic scales much smaller than the vertical scale height. The instability is studied using three methods:…
Rotational mixing, the key process in stellar evolution, transports angular momentum and chemical elements in stellar radiative zones. In the past two decades, an emphasis has been placed on the turbulent transport induced by the vertical…
Detailed calculations of the physical structure of accretion disk boundary layers, and thus their inferred observational properties, rely on the assumption that angular momentum transport is opposite to the radial angular frequency gradient…
The dynamical shear instability is an important mixing process in the advanced stages of the evolution of massive stars. We calculated different models of 15 Mo with an initial rotational velocity, v(rot,ini)= 300 km/s to investigate its…
We use three dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the structure of the boundary layer between an accretion disc and a non-rotating, unmagnetized star. Under the assumption that cooling is efficient, we obtain a narrow but…
Zahn's widely-used model for turbulent mixing induced by rotational shear has recently been validated (with some caveats) in non-rotating shear flows. It is not clear, however, whether his model remains valid in the presence of rotation,…
The arising of turbulence in gas-dynamic (non-magnetic) accretion disks is a major issue of modern astrophysics. Such accretion disks should be stable against the turbulence generation, in contradiction to observations. Searching for…
Supersonic turbulence fragments the interstellar medium into dense sheets, filaments, cores and large low density voids. The turbulence is driven on large scales, probably predominantly by supernovae. The scaling properties of supersonic…
We identify and study a number of new, rapidly growing instabilities of dust grains in protoplanetary disks, which may be important for planetesimal formation. The study is based on the recognition that dust-gas mixtures are generically…
Shear strain localization into shear bands is associated with velocity weakening instabilities and earthquakes. Here, we simulate steady-state plane-shear flow of numerical granular material (gouge), confined between parallel surfaces. Both…
Observations of protostellar disks indicate the presence of the magnetic field of thermal (or superthermal) strength. In such a strong magnetic field, many MHD instabilities responsible for turbulent transport of the angular momentum are…
I discuss the results of simplified three dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the boundary layer between a disc and a non-rotating, unmagnetized star. Strong magnetic fields, possibly approaching equipartition with the thermal…
In this paper, we show that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances. This instability is present in any stably stratified anticyclonically sheared flow as soon as the angular velocity…
Using a 2.5D time-dependent axisymmetric numerical code we recently developed, we solve the full compressible Navier-Stokes equations (including an alpha-viscosity prescription) to determine the structure of the boundary layer between the…
The complex interaction between turbulence and the free surface in boundary layer shear flow created by a vertical surface-piercing wall is considered. A laboratory-scale device was built that utilizes a surface-piercing stainless steel…
The structure of the boundary layer region between the disc and a comparatively slowly rotating star is studied using a causal prescription for viscosity. The vertically integrated viscous stress relaxes towards its equilibrium value on a…
We present simulations of the non-linear evolution of streaming instabilities in protoplanetary disks. The two components of the disk, gas treated with grid hydrodynamics and solids treated as superparticles, are mutually coupled by drag…
The nature of angular momentum transport in the boundary layers of accretion disks has been one of the central and long-standing issues of accretion disk theory. In this work we demonstrate that acoustic waves excited by supersonic shear in…
First results from a high-resolution three-dimensional nonlinear numerical study of the kink oscillation are presented. We show in detail the development of a shear instability in an untwisted line-tied magnetic flux tube. The instability…