We present global hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with mesh refinement of accreting planets embedded in protoplanetary disks (PPDs). The magnetized disk includes Ohmic resistivity that depends on the overlying mass column, lead
ing to turbulent surface layers and a dead zone near the midplane. The main results are: (i) The accretion flow in the Hill sphere is intrinsically 3D for hydrodynamic and MHD models. Net inflow toward the planet is dominated by high latitude flows. A circumplanetary disk (CPD) forms. Its midplane flows outward in a pattern whose details differ between models. (ii) Gap opening magnetically couples and ignites the dead zone near the planet, leading to stochastic accretion, a quasi-turbulent flow in the Hill sphere and a CPD whose structure displays high levels of variability. (iii) Advection of magnetized gas onto the rotating CPD generates helical fields that launch magnetocentrifugally driven outflows. During one specific epoch a highly collimated, one-sided jet is observed. (iv) The CPDs surface density $sim30{rm,g,cm^{-2}}$, small enough for significant ionization and turbulence to develop. (v) The accretion rate onto the planet in the MHD simulation reaches a steady value $8 times 10^{-3} {rm M_oplus yr^{-1}}$, and is similar in the viscous hydrodynamic runs. Our results suggest that gas accretion onto a forming giant planet within a magnetized PPD with dead zone allows rapid growth from Saturnian to Jovian masses. As well as being relevant for giant planet formation, these results have important implications for the formation of regular satellites around gas giant planets.
(Abridged) We analyse the stability and evolution of power-law accretion disc models. These have midplane densities that follow radial power-laws, and have either temperature or entropy distributions that are power-law functions of cylindrical radius
. We employ two different hydrodynamic codes to perform 2D-axisymmetric and 3D simulations that examine the long-term evolution of the disc models as a function of the power-law indices of the temperature or entropy, the thermal relaxation time of the fluid, and the viscosity. We present a stability analysis of the problem that we use to interpret the simulation results. We find that disc models whose temperature or entropy profiles cause the equilibrium angular velocity to vary with height are unstable to the growth of modes with wavenumber ratios |k_R/k_Z| >> 1 when the thermodynamic response of the fluid is isothermal, or the thermal evolution time is comparable to or shorter than the local dynamical time scale. These discs are subject to the Goldreich-Schubert-Fricke (GSF) or `vertical shear linear instability. Development of the instability involves excitation of vertical breathing and corrugation modes in the disc, with the corrugation modes in particular being a feature of the nonlinear saturated state. Instability operates when the dimensionless disc kinematic viscosity nu < 10^{-6} (Reynolds numbers Re>H c_s/nu > 2500). In 3D the instability generates a quasi-turbulent flow, and the Reynolds stress produces a fluctuating effective viscosity coefficient whose mean value reaches alpha ~ 6 x 10^{-4} by the end of the simulation. The vertical shear instability in disc models which include realistic thermal physics has yet to be examined. Should it occur, however, our results suggest that it will have significant consequences for their internal dynamics, transport properties, and observational appearance.
The migration of low-mass planets is driven by the differential Lindblad torque and the corotation torque in non-magnetic viscous models of protoplanetary discs. The corotation torque has recently received detailed attention as it may slow down, stal
l, or reverse migration. In laminar viscous disc models, the long-term evolution of the corotation torque is intimately related to viscous and thermal diffusion processes in the planets horseshoe region. This paper examines the properties of the corotation torque in discs where MHD turbulence develops as a result of the magnetorotational instability, considering a weak initial toroidal magnetic field. We present results of 3D MHD simulations carried out with two different codes. Non-ideal MHD effects and the discs vertical stratification are neglected, and locally isothermal disc models are considered. The running time-averaged torque exerted by the disc on a fixed planet is evaluated in three disc models. We first present results with an inner disc cavity (planet trap). As in viscous disc models, the planet is found to experience a positive running time-averaged torque over several hundred orbits, which highlights the existence of an unsaturated corotation torque maintained in the long term in MHD turbulent discs. Two disc models with initial power-law density and temperature profiles are also adopted, in which the time-averaged torque is found to be in decent agreement with its counterpart in laminar viscous disc models with similar viscosity at the planet location. Detailed analysis of the averaged torque density distributions indicates that the differential Lindblad torque takes very similar values in MHD turbulent and laminar viscous discs, and there exists an unsaturated corotation torque in MHD turbulent discs. This analysis also reveals the existence of an additional corotation torque in weakly magnetized discs.
A detector material or configuration that can provide an unambiguous indication of neutron capture can substantially reduce random coincidence backgrounds in antineutrino detection and capture-gated neutron spectrometry applications. Here we investig
ate the performance of such a material, a composite of plastic scintillator and $^6$Li$_6^{nat}$Gd$(^{10}$BO$_{3})_{3}$:Ce (LGB) crystal shards of ~1 mm dimension and comprising 1% of the detector by mass. While it is found that the optical propagation properties of this material as currently fabricated are only marginally acceptable for antineutrino detection, its neutron capture identification ability is encouraging.
The gravitational interaction between a protoplanetary disc and planetary sized bodies that form within it leads to the exchange of angular momentum, resulting in migration of the planets and possible gap formation in the disc for more massive planet
s. In this article, we review the basic theory of disc-planet interactions, and discuss the results of recent numerical simulations of planets embedded in protoplanetary discs. We consider the migration of low mass planets and recent developments in our understanding of so-called type I migration when a fuller treatment of the disc thermodynamics is included. We discuss the runaway migration of intermediate mass planets (so-called type III migration), and the migration of giant planets (type II migration) and the associated gap formation in the disc. The availability of high performance computing facilities has enabled global simulations of magnetised, turbulent discs to be computed, and we discuss recent results for both low and high mass planets embedded in such discs.
