Gravitoviscous protoplanetary disks with a dust component. II. Spatial distribution and growth of dust in a clumpy disk

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution simulations to analyze dust distribution and growth in a gravitationally unstable, clumpy protoplanetary disk, revealing complex structures and potential pathways for early planet formation.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical model including dust growth and self-gravity in a clumpy disk, highlighting the formation of protoplanets within migrating clumps.

Findings

Disk exhibits time-variable structures like spiral arms and clumps.

Dust concentrates and grows within clumps, forming compact central condensations.

Protoplanets may form inside inward migrating clumps before dispersal.

Abstract

Spatial distribution and growth of dust in a clumpy protoplanetary disk subject to vigorous gravitational instability and fragmentation is studied numerically with sub-au resolution using the FEOSAD code. Hydrodynamics equations describing the evolution of self-gravitating and viscous protoplanetary disks in the thin-disk limit were modified to include a dust component consisting of two parts: sub-micron-sized dust and grown dust with a variable maximum radius. The conversion of small to grown dust, dust growth, friction of dust with gas, and dust self-gravity were also considered. We found that the disk appearance is notably time-variable with spiral arms, dusty rings, and clumps, constantly forming, evolving, and decaying. As a consequence, the total dust-to-gas mass ratio is highly non-homogeneous throughout the disk extent, showing order-of-magnitude local deviations from the canonical 1:100 value. Gravitationally bound clumps formed through gravitational fragmentation have a velocity pattern that deviates notably from the Keplerian rotation. Small dust is efficiently converted into grown dust in the clump interiors, reaching a maximum radius of several decimeters. Concurrently, grown dust drifts towards the clump center forming a massive compact central condensation (70-100 $M_\oplus$). We argue that protoplanets may form in the interiors of inward migrating clumps before they disperse through the action of tidal torques. We foresee the formation of protoplanets at orbital distances of several tens of au with initial masses of gas and dust in the protoplanetary seed in the (0.25-1.6) $M_{\rm Jup}$ and (1.0-5.5) $M_\oplus$ limits, respectively. The final masses of gas and dust in the protoplanets may however be much higher due to accretion from surrounding massive metal-rich disks/envelopes.