Embryos grown in the dead zone: Assembling the first protoplanetary cores in low mass self-gravitating circumstellar disks of gas and solids

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that Rossby vortices in dead zones of protoplanetary disks can rapidly concentrate solids, leading to gravitational collapse and formation of Mars-sized embryos within a few orbits.

Contribution

First global simulations showing that dead zone vortices efficiently trap solids and induce rapid formation of protoplanetary cores via gravitational collapse.

Findings

Vortices trap solids effectively within 5 orbits.

Critical density achieved leading to gravitational collapse into Mars-sized objects.

38 bound embryos formed, half larger than Mars, within 200 orbits.

Abstract

In the borders of the dead zones of protoplanetary disks, the inflow of gas produces a local density maximum that triggers the Rossby wave instability. The vortices that form are efficient in trapping solids. We aim to assess the possibility of gravitational collapse of the solids within the Rossby vortices. We perform global simulations of the dynamics of gas and solids in a low mass non-magnetized self-gravitating thin protoplanetary disk with the Pencil code. We use multiple particle species of radius 1, 10, 30, and 100 cm. The dead zone is modeled as a region of low viscosity. The Rossby vortices excited in the edges of the dead zone are very efficient particle traps. Within 5 orbits after their appearance, the solids achieve critical density and undergo gravitational collapse into Mars sized objects. The velocity dispersions are of the order of 10 m/s for newly formed embryos, later lowering to less than 1 m/s by drag force cooling. After 200 orbits, 38 gravitationally bound embryos were formed inside the vortices, half of them being more massive than Mars. The embryos are composed primarily of same-sized particles. We conclude that the presence of a dead zone naturally gives rise to a population of protoplanetary cores in the mass range of 0.1-0.6 Earth masses, on very short timescales.