Related papers: Hydrodynamics of warps in the local model of astro…
Several observations of transition discs show lopsided dust-distributions. A potential explanation is the formation of a large-scale vortex acting as a dust-trap at the edge of a gap opened by a giant planet. Numerical models of gap-edge…
While planets in the solar system only have a low inclination with respect to the ecliptic there is mounting evidence that in extrasolar systems the inclination can be very high, at least for close-in planets. One process to alter the…
We consider the formation and evolution of vortices in a hydrodynamic shearing-sheet model. The evolution is done numerically using a version of the ZEUS code. Consistent with earlier results, an injected vorticity field evolves into a set…
We study the evolution of a system consisting of two protoplanets still embedded in a protoplanetary disk. Results of two different numerical approaches are presented. In the first kind of model the motion of the disk material is followed…
Be it to aerate a glass of wine before tasting, to accelerate a chemical reaction or to cultivate cells in suspension, the "swirling" (or orbital shaking) of a container ensures good mixing and gas exchange in an efficient and simple way.…
The non-linear hydrodynamic stability of thin, compressible, Keplerian disks is studied on the large two-dimensional compressible scale, using a high-order accuracy spectral method. We show that purely hydrodynamic perturbations, while…
KH 15D is a protostellar binary system that shows a peculiar light curve. In order to model it, a narrow circumbinary precessing disc has been invoked, but a proper dynamical model has never been developed. In this paper, we analytically…
I consider the nonaxisymmetric linear theory of a rotating, isothermal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shear flow. The analysis is performed in the shearing box, a local model of a thin disk, using a decomposition in terms of shearing waves,…
Circumstellar discs may become warped or broken into distinct planes if there is a stellar or planetary companion with an orbit that is misaligned with respect to the disc. There is mounting observational evidence for protoplanetary discs…
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:…
Models of accretion discs and their associated outflows often incorporate assumptions of axisymmetry and symmetry across the disc plane. However, for turbulent discs these symmetries only apply to averaged quantities and do not apply…
We develop a fully nonlinear approximation to the short-wavelength limit of eccentric waves in astrophysical discs, based on the averaged Lagrangian method of Whitham (1965). In this limit there is a separation of scales between the rapidly…
Context: Protoplanetary discs are known to form around nascent stars from their parent molecular cloud as a result of angular momentum conservation. As they progressively evolve and dissipate, they also form planets. While a lot of modeling…
We simulate the nonlinear hydrodynamical evolution of tidally-excited inertial waves in convective envelopes of rotating stars and giant planets modelled as spherical shells containing incompressible, viscous and adiabatically-stratified…
We report the finding of a linear, non-axisymmetric, global instability in gas discs around stars, which may be relevant to other astrophysical discs. It takes the form of an $m=1$ mode that grows in the disc density distribution while the…
Compact protoplanetary discs are becoming increasingly prominent in observations. Their dispersal pathways may differ substantially from those of extended discs. We aim to quantify the role of the disc outer radius in internal…
In this paper, we extend our previous analysis (Lodato & Rice 2004) of the transport properties induced by gravitational instabilities in cooling, gaseous accretion discs to the case where the disc mass is comparable to the central object.…
The local stability of stellar and fluid discs, under a new modified dynamical model, is surveyed by using WKB approximation. The exact form of the modified Toomre criterion is derived for both types of systems and it is shown that the new…
Circumbinary discs are generally thought to take up angular momentum and energy from the binary orbit over time through gravitational torques mediated by orbital resonances. This process leads to the shrinkage of the binary orbit over time,…
Misalignments between the orbital planes of planets and the equatorial planes of their host stars have been observed in our solar system, in transiting exoplanets, and in the orbital planes of debris discs. We present a mechanism that…