Low mass planets in protoplanetary disks with net vertical magnetic fields: the Planetary Wake and Gap Opening

TL;DR

This study uses 3D MHD simulations to show that low mass planets can open gaps in protoplanetary disks with net vertical magnetic fields, challenging traditional viscous criteria and highlighting the role of magnetic fields in planet-disk interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that magnetic field transport enhances gap opening by low mass planets in MRI-turbulent disks, contrasting with viscous hydrodynamic models and emphasizing the importance of magnetic geometry.

Findings

Magnetic fields enable gap opening by low mass planets even without viscosity.

MRI turbulence leads to deeper, wider gaps compared to viscous HD disks with same stress.

Magnetic field geometry significantly influences gap formation and planet migration.

Abstract

We study wakes and gap opening by low mass planets in gaseous protoplanetary disks threaded by net vertical magnetic fields which drive magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence through the magnetorotational instabilty (MRI), using three dimensional simulations in the unstratified local shearing box approximation. The wakes, which are excited by the planets, are damped by shocks similar to the wake damping in inviscid hydrodynamic (HD) disks. Angular momentum deposition by shock damping opens gaps in both MHD turbulent disks and inviscid HD disks even for low mass planets, in contradiction to the "thermal criterion" for gap opening. To test the "viscous criterion", we compared gap properties in MRI-turbulent disks to those in viscous HD disks having the same stress, and found that the same mass planet opens a significantly deeper and wider gap in net vertical flux MHD disks than in viscous HD disks. This difference arises due to the efficient magnetic field transport into the gap region in MRI disks, leading to a larger effective \alpha within the gap. Thus, across the gap, the Maxwell stress profile is smoother than the gap density profile, and a deeper gap is needed for the Maxwell stress gradient to balance the planetary torque density. We also confirmed the large excess torque close to the planet in MHD disks, and found that long-lived density features (termed zonal flows) produced by the MRI can affect planet migration. The comparison with previous results from net toroidal flux/zero flux MHD simulations indicates that the magnetic field geometry plays an important role in the gap opening process. Overall, our results suggest that gaps can be commonly produced by low mass planets in realistic protoplanetary disks, and caution the use of a constant \alpha-viscosity to model gaps in protoplanetary disks.