The effect of a planet on the dust distribution in a 3D protoplanetary disk

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to explore how planets influence dust distribution in protoplanetary disks, revealing rapid dust gap formation and potential sites for planetesimal growth, depending on grain size and planet mass.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of dust behavior in protoplanetary disks with embedded planets, highlighting differences between dust and gas gap formation and implications for planet formation.

Findings

Dust gaps form more rapidly in dust than in gas.

Dust accumulates at the edges of planetary gaps.

Planet presence may promote second planet formation.

Abstract

Aims: We investigate the behaviour of dust in protoplanetary disks under the action of gas drag in the presence of a planet. Our goal is twofold: to determine the spatial distribution of dust depending on grain size and planet mass, and therefore to provide a framework for interpretation of coming observations and future studies of planetesimal growth. Method: We numerically model the evolution of dust in a protoplanetary disk using a two-fluid (gas + dust) Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code, which is non-self-gravitating and locally isothermal. The code follows the three dimensional distribution of dust in a protoplanetary disk as it interacts with the gas via aerodynamic drag. In this work, we present the evolution of a minimum mass solar nebula (MMSN) disk comprising 1% dust by mass in the presence of an embedded planet. We run a series of simulations which vary the grain size and planetary mass to see how they affect the resulting disk structure. Results: We find that gap formation is much more rapid and striking in the dust layer than in the gaseous disk and that a system with a given stellar, disk and planetary mass will have a completely different appearance depending on the grain size. For low mass planets in our MMSN disk, a gap can open in the dust disk while not in the gas disk. We also note that dust accumulates at the external edge of the planetary gap and speculate that the presence of a planet in the disk may enhance the formation of a second planet by facilitating the growth of planetesimals in this high density region.