No Arabic abstract
We study the three-dimensional evolution of a viscous protoplanetary disc which accretes gas material from a second protoplanetary disc during a close encounter in an embedded star cluster. The aim is to investigate the capability of the mass accretion scenario to generate strongly inclined gaseous discs which could later form misaligned planets. We use smoothed particle hydrodynamics to study mass transfer and disc inclination for passing stars and circumstellar discs with different masses. We explore different orbital configurations to find the parameter space which allows significant disc inclination generation. citet{Thi2011} suggested that significant disc inclination and disc or planetary system shrinkage can generally be produced by the accretion of external gas material with a different angular momentum. We found that this condition can be fullfilled for a large range of gas mass and angular momentum. For all encounters, mass accretion from the secondary disc increases with decreasing mass of the secondary proto-star. Thus, higher disc inclinations can be attained for lower secondary stellar masses. Variations of the secondary discs orientation relative to the orbital plane can alter the disc evolution significantly. The results taken together show that mass accretion can change the three-dimensional disc orientation significantly resulting in strongly inclined discs. In combination with the gravitational interaction between the two star-disc systems, this scenario is relevant for explaining the formation of highly inclined discs which could later form misaligned planets.
We study the three-dimensional evolution of a viscous protoplanetary disc which is perturbed by a passing star on a parabolic orbit. The aim is to test whether a single stellar flyby is capable to excite significant disc inclinations which would favour the formation of so-called misaligned planets. We use smoothed particle hydrodynamics to study inclination, disc mass and angular momentum changes of the disc for passing stars with different masses. We explore different orbital configurations for the perturbers orbit to find the parameter spaces which allow significant disc inclination generation. Prograde inclined parabolic orbits are most destructive leading to significant disc mass and angular momentum loss. In the remaining disc, the final disc inclination is only below $20^circ$. This is due to the removal of disc particles which have experienced the strongest perturbing effects. Retrograde inclined parabolic orbits are less destructive and can generate disc inclinations up to $60^circ$. The final disc orientation is determined by the precession of the disc angular momentum vector about the perturbers orbital angular momentum vector and by disc orbital inclination changes. We propose a sequence of stellar flybys for the generation of misalignment angles above $60^circ$. The results taken together show that stellar flybys are promising and realistic for the explanation of misaligned Hot Jupiters with misalignment angles up to 60degr.
Over the last few years instruments such as VLT/SPHERE and Subaru/HiCIAO have been able to take detailed scattered light images of protoplanetary discs. Many of the features observed in these discs are generally suspected to be caused by an embedded planet, and understanding the cause of these features requires detailed theoretical models. In this work we investigate disc-planet interactions using the PLUTO code to run 2D and 3D hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary discs with embedded 30 M$_{oplus}$ and 300 M$_{oplus}$ planets on both an inclined ($i = 2.86^{circ}$) and non-inclined orbit, using an $alpha$-viscosity of $4 times 10^{-3}$. We produce synthetic scattered-light images of these discs at emph{H-band} wavelengths using the radiative transfer code RADMC3D. We find that while the surface density evolution in 2D and 3D simulations of inclined and non-inclined planets remain fairly similar, their observational appearance is remarkably different. Most of the features seen in the synthetic emph{H-band} images are connected to density variations of the disc at around 3.3 scale heights above and below the midplane, which emphasizes the need for 3D simulations. Planets on sustained orbital inclinations disrupt the discs upper-atmosphere and produce radically different observable features and intensity profiles, including shadowing effects and intensity variation in the order of 10-20 times the surrounding background. The vertical optical depth to the disc midplane for emph{H-band} wavelengths is $tau approx 20$ in the disc gap created by the high-mass planet. We conclude that direct imaging of planets embedded in the disc remains difficult to observe, even for massive planets in the gap.
Disc-driven planet migration is integral to the formation of planetary systems. In standard, gas-dominated protoplanetary discs, low-mass planets or planetary cores undergo rapid inwards migration and are lost to the central star. However, several recent studies indicate that the solid component in protoplanetary discs can have a significant dynamical effect on disc-planet interaction, especially when the solid-to-gas mass ratio approaches unity or larger and the dust-on-gas drag forces become significant. As there are several ways to raise the solid abundance in protoplanetary discs, for example through disc winds and dust-trapping in pressure bumps, it is important to understand how planets migrate through a dusty environment. To this end, we study planet migration in dust-rich discs via a systematic set of high-resolution, two-dimensional numerical simulations. We show that the inwards migration of low-mass planets can be slowed down by dusty dynamical corotation torques. We also identify a new regime of stochastic migration applicable to discs with dust-to-gas mass ratios $gtrsim 0.3$ and particle Stokes numbers $gtrsim 0.03$. In these cases, disc-planet interaction leads to the continuous development of small-scale, intense dust vortices that scatter the planet, which can potentially halt or even reverse the inwards planet migration. We briefly discuss the observational implications of our results and highlight directions for future work.
We study the interaction between massive planets and a gas disc with a mass in the range expected for protoplanetary discs. We use SPH simulations to study the orbital evolution of a massive planet as well as the dynamical response of the disc for planet masses between 1 and $6 rmn{M_J}$ and the full range of initial relative orbital inclinations. Gap formation can occur for planets in inclined orbits. For given planet mass, a threshold relative orbital inclination exists under which a gap forms. At high relative inclinations, the inclination decay rate increases for increasing planet mass and decreasing initial relative inclination. For an initial semi-major axis of 5 AU and relative inclination of $i_0=80^circ,$ the times required for the inclination to decay by $10^circ$ is $sim10^{6} rmn{yr}$ and $sim10^{5} rmn{yr}$ for $1 rmn{M_J}$ and $6 rmn{M_J}$. Planets on inclined orbits warp the disc by an extent that is negligible for $1 rmn{M_J}$ but increases with increasing mass becoming quite significant for a planet of mass $6 rmn{M_J}$. We also find a solid body precession of both the total disc angular momentum vector and the planet orbital momentum vector about the total angular momentum vector. Our results illustrate that the influence of an inclined massive planet on a protoplanetary disc can lead to significant changes of the disc structure and orientation which can in turn affect the orbital evolution of the planet significantly.
We numerically investigate the dynamics of a 2D non-magnetised protoplanetary disc surrounded by an inflow coming from an external envelope. We find that the accretion shock between the disc and the inflow is unstable, leading to the generation of large-amplitude spiral density waves. These spiral waves propagate over long distances, down to radii at least ten times smaller than the accretion shock radius. We measure spiral-driven outward angular momentum transport with 1e-4 < alpha < 1e-2 for an inflow accretion rate Mout>1e-8 Msun/yr. We conclude that the interaction of the disc with its envelope leads to long-lived spiral density waves and radial angular momentum transport with rates that cannot be neglected in young non-magnetised protostellar discs.