Effects of dust feedback on vortices in protoplanetary disks

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution simulations to explore how dust feedback influences vortex stability in protoplanetary disks, revealing that dust accumulation can destabilize and shorten vortex lifetimes, impacting planet formation.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates how dust feedback, especially with higher dust-to-gas ratios and larger grains, destabilizes vortices, reducing their lifetime in protoplanetary disks.

Findings

Dust feedback can destroy vortices when dust density matches gas density.

Higher initial dust-to-gas ratios strengthen dust feedback effects.

Vortex lifetime can be reduced by up to a factor of 10.

Abstract

We carried out two-dimensional high-resolution simulations to study the effect of dust feedback on the evolution of vortices induced by massive planets in protoplanetary disks. Various initial dust to gas disk surface density ratios ($0.001$ -- $0.01$) and dust particle sizes (Stokes number $4\times10^{-4}$ -- $0.16$) are considered. We found that while dust particles migrate inwards, vortices are very effective in collecting them. When dust density becomes comparable to gas density within the vortex, a dynamical instability is excited and it alters the coherent vorticity pattern and destroys the vortex. This dust feedback effect is stronger with higher initial dust/gas density ratio and larger dust grain. Consequently, we found that the disk vortex lifetime can be reduced up to a factor of 10. We discuss the implications of our findings on the survivability of vortices in protoplanetary disks and planet formation.