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Register a new userMagnetorotational instability and dynamo action in gravitoturbulent astrophysical discs
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Added by
Antoine Riols-Fonclare
Publication date
2017
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Though usually treated in isolation, the magnetorotational and gravitational instabilities (MRI and GI) may coincide at certain radii and evolutionary stages of protoplanetary discs and active galactic nuclei. Their mutual interactions could profoundly influence several important processes, such as accretion variability and outbursts, fragmentation and disc truncation, or large-scale magnetic field production. Direct numerical simulations of both instabilities are computationally challenging and remain relatively unexplored. In this paper, we aim to redress this neglect via a set of 3D vertically stratified shearing-box simulations, combining self-gravity and magnetic fields. We show that gravito-turbulence greatly weakens the zero-net-flux MRI. In the limit of efficient cooling (and thus enhanced GI), the MRI is completely suppressed, and yet strong magnetic fields are sustained by the gravitoturbulence. This turbulent `spiral wave dynamo may have widespread application, especially in galactic discs. Finally, we present preliminary work showing that a strong net-vertical-flux revives the MRI and supports a magnetically dominated state, in which the GI is secondary.
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The origin of large-scale and coherent magnetic fields in astrophysical discs is an important and long standing problem. Researchers commonly appeal to a turbulent dynamo, sustained by the magneto-rotational instability (MRI), to supply the large-scale field. But research over the last decade in particular has demonstrated that various non-ideal MHD effects can impede or extinguish the MRI, especially in protoplanetary disks. In this paper we propose a new scenario, by which the magnetic field is generated and sustained via the gravitational instability (GI). We use 3D stratified shearing box simulations to characterise the dynamo and find that it works at low magnetic Reynolds number (from unity to ~100) for a wide range of cooling times and boundary conditions. The process is kinematic, with a relatively fast growth rate ($< 0.1 Omega$), and it shares some properties of mean field dynamos. The magnetic field is generated via the combination of differential rotation and spiral density waves, the latter providing compressible horizontal motions and large-scale vertical rolls. At greater magnetic Reynolds numbers the build up of large-scale field is diminished and instead small-scale structures emerge from the breakdown of twisted flux ropes. We propose that GI may be key to the dynamo engine not only in young protoplanetary discs but also in some AGN and galaxies.
Accretion disks are likely threaded by external vertical magnetic flux, which enhances the level of turbulence via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Using shearing-box simulations, we find that such external magnetic flux also strongly enhances the amplitude of banded radial density variations known as zonal flows. Moreover, we report that vertical magnetic flux is strongly concentrated toward low-density regions of the zonal flow. Mean vertical magnetic field can be more than doubled in low-density regions, and reduced to nearly zero in high density regions in some cases. In ideal MHD, the scale on which magnetic flux concentrates can reach a few disk scale heights. In the non-ideal MHD regime with strong ambipolar diffusion, magnetic flux is concentrated into thin axisymmetric shells at some enhanced level, whose size is typically less than half a scale height. We show that magnetic flux concentration is closely related to the fact that the magnetic diffusivity of the MRI turbulence is anisotropic. In addition to a conventional Ohmic-like turbulent resistivity, we find that there is a correlation between the vertical velocity and horizontal magnetic field fluctuations that produces a mean electric field that acts to anti-diffuse the vertical magnetic flux. The anisotropic turbulent diffusivity has analogies to the Hall effect, and may have important implications for magnetic flux transport in accretion disks. The physical origin of magnetic flux concentration may be related to the development of channel flows followed by magnetic reconnection, which acts to decrease the mass-to-flux ratio in localized regions. The association of enhanced zonal flows with magnetic flux concentration may lead to global pressure bumps in protoplanetary disks that helps trap dust particles and facilitates planet formation.
The magnetorotational (MRI) dynamo has long been considered one of the possible drivers of turbulent angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion disks. However, various numerical results suggest that this dynamo may be difficult to excite in the astrophysically relevant regime of magnetic Prandtl number (Pm) significantly smaller than unity, for reasons currently not well understood. The aim of this article is to present the first results of an ongoing numerical investigation of the role of both linear and nonlinear dissipative effects in this problem. Combining a parametric exploration and an energy analysis of incompressible nonlinear MRI dynamo cycles representative of the transitional dynamics in large aspect ratio shearing boxes, we find that turbulent magnetic diffusion makes the excitation and sustainment of this dynamo at moderate magnetic Reynolds number (Rm) increasingly difficult for decreasing Pm. This results in an increase in the critical Rm of the dynamo for increasing kinematic Reynolds number (Re), in agreement with earlier numerical results. Given its very generic nature, we argue that turbulent magnetic diffusion could be an important determinant of MRI dynamo excitation in disks, and may also limit the efficiency of angular momentum transport by MRI turbulence in low Pm regimes.
We present results from the first 3D kinetic numerical simulation of magnetorotational turbulence and dynamo, using the local shearing-box model of a collisionless accretion disc. The kinetic magnetorotational instability grows from a subthermal magnetic field having zero net flux over the computational domain to generate self-sustained turbulence and outward angular-momentum transport. Significant Maxwell and Reynolds stresses are accompanied by comparable viscous stresses produced by field-aligned ion pressure anisotropy, which is regulated primarily by the mirror and ion-cyclotron instabilities through particle trapping and pitch-angle scattering. The latter endow the plasma with an effective viscosity that is biased with respect to the magnetic-field direction and spatio-temporally variable. Energy spectra suggest an Alfven-wave cascade at large scales and a kinetic-Alfven-wave cascade at small scales, with strong small-scale density fluctuations and weak non-axisymmetric density waves. Ions undergo non-thermal particle acceleration, their distribution accurately described by a kappa distribution. These results have implications for the properties of low-collisionality accretion flows, such as that near the black hole at the Galactic center.
Gravitational instability (GI) controls the dynamics of young massive protoplanetary discs. Apart from facilitating gas accretion on to the central protostar, it must also impact on the process of planet formation: directly through fragmentation, and indirectly through the turbulent concentration of small solids. To understand the latter process, it is essential to determine the dust dynamics in such a turbulent flow. For that purpose, we conduct a series of 3D shearing box simulations of coupled gas and dust, including the gass self-gravity and scanning a range of Stokes numbers, from 0.001 to ~0.2. First, we show that the vertical settling of dust in the midplane is significantly impeded by gravitoturbulence, with the dust scale-height roughly 0.6 times the gas scale height for centimetre grains. This is a result of the strong vertical diffusion issuing from (a) small-scale inertial-wave turbulence feeding off the GI spiral waves and (b) the larger-scale vertical circulations that naturally accompany the spirals. Second, we show that at R=50 AU concentration events involving sub-metre particles and yielding order 1 dust to gas ratios are rare and last for less than an orbit. Moreover, dust concentration is less efficient in 3D than in 2D simulations. We conclude that GI is not especially prone to the turbulent accumulation of dust grains. Finally, the large dust scale-height measured in simulations could be, in the future, compared with that of edge-on discs seen by ALMA, thus aiding detection and characterisation of GI in real systems.
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