Radially Magnetized Protoplanetary Disk: Vertical Profile
Matthew Russo (University of Toronto), Christopher Thompson (CITA)

TL;DR
This study models the vertical magnetic and density profiles of protoplanetary disks under external radial magnetic fields, revealing enhanced toroidal fields, MRI activity at higher magnetizations, and inner disk evolution towards lower surface density.
Contribution
It introduces a detailed model of magnetic field response and ionization structure in protoplanetary disks exposed to stellar wind magnetic fields, highlighting the impact on disk evolution and mass transfer.
Findings
Toroidal magnetic fields can become superthermal.
MRI occurs at higher magnetizations with ambipolar and Hall effects.
Inner disk regions evolve towards lower surface density.
Abstract
This paper studies the response of a thin accretion disk to an external radial magnetic field. Our focus is on protoplanetary disks (PPDs), which are exposed during their later evolution to an intense, magnetized wind from the central star. A radial magnetic field is mixed into a thin surface layer, is wound up by the disk shear, and is pushed downward by a combination of turbulent mixing and ambipolar and Ohmic drift. The toroidal field reaches much greater strengths than the seed vertical field that is usually invoked in PPD models, even becoming superthermal. Linear stability analysis indicates that the disk experiences the magnetorotational instability (MRI) at a higher magnetization than a vertically magnetized disk when both the effects of ambipolar and Hall drift are taken into account. Steady vertical profiles of density and magnetic field are obtained at several radii between…
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