On the dynamics of planetesimals embedded in turbulent protoplanetary discs with dead zones

TL;DR

This study investigates how turbulence and dead zones in protoplanetary discs influence planetesimal dynamics, revealing that dead zones reduce destructive velocities and diffusion, potentially enabling planetesimal growth.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed MHD simulation analysis of planetesimal behavior in stratified turbulent discs with dead zones, highlighting their role in planetesimal survival.

Findings

Fully turbulent discs cause high velocity dispersions leading to destruction of bodies <100 km.

Dead zones significantly reduce velocity excitation and radial diffusion of planetesimals.

Radial diffusion in dead zones is limited to about 0.25 au over 5 Myr, aligning with solar system constraints.

Abstract

(abridged) Accretion in protoplanetary discs is thought to be driven by [...] turbulence via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Recent work has shown that a planetesimal swarm embedded in a fully turbulent disc is subject to strong excitation of the velocity dispersion, leading to collisional destruction of bodies with radii R_p < 100 km. Significant diffusion of planetesimal semimajor axes also arises, leading to large-scale spreading of the planetesimal population throughout the inner regions of the protoplanetary disc, in apparent contradiction of constraints provided by the distribution of asteroids within the asteroid belt. In this paper, we examine the dynamics of planetesimals embedded in vertically stratified turbulent discs, with and without dead zones. Our main aims are to examine the turbulent excitation of the velocity dispersion, and the radial diffusion, of planetesimals in these discs. We employ three dimensional MHD simulations [...], along with an equilibrium chemistry model [...] We find that planetesimals in fully turbulent discs develop large random velocities that will lead to collisional destruction/erosion for bodies with sizes below 100 km, and undergo radial diffusion on a scale \sim 2.5 au over a 5 Myr disc life time. But planetesimals in a dead zone experience a much reduced excitation of their random velocities, and equilibrium velocity dispersions lie between the disruption thresholds for weak and strong aggregates for sizes R_p < 100 km. We also find that radial diffusion occurs over a much reduced length scale \sim 0.25 au over the disc life time, this being consistent with solar system constraints. We conclude that planetesimal growth via mutual collisions between smaller bodies cannot occur in a fully turbulent disc. By contrast, a dead zone may provide a safe haven in which km-sized planetesimals can avoid mutual destruction through collisions.