3D SPH simulations of grain growth in protoplanetary disks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 3D two-fluid SPH simulation method for modeling grain growth in protoplanetary disks, validating it against analytical models and exploring implications for planetesimal formation.

Contribution

It presents the first implementation of a grain growth scheme in 3D SPH simulations of protoplanetary disks, enabling more realistic modeling of dust evolution.

Findings

Simulation results agree with analytical grain growth models.

The method validates turbulent grain growth processes.

Implications for planetesimal formation are discussed.

Abstract

We present the first results of the treatment of grain growth in our 3D, two-fluid (gas+dust) SPH code describing protoplanetary disks. We implement a scheme able to reproduce the variation of grain sizes caused by a variety of physical processes and test it with the analytical expression of grain growth given by Stepinski & Valageas (1997) in simulations of a typical T Tauri disk around a one solar mass star. The results are in agreement with a turbulent growing process and validate the method. We are now able to simulate the grain growth process in a protoplanetary disk given by a more realistic physical description, currently under development. We discuss the implications of the combined effect of grain growth and dust vertical settling and radial migration on subsequent planetesimal formation.