Inner dusty regions of protoplanetary discs -- II. Dust dynamics driven by radiation pressure and disc winds

TL;DR

This study investigates dust dynamics in the innermost regions of protoplanetary discs, emphasizing the roles of radiation pressure and disc winds, revealing how these forces influence dust distribution and grain behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical method combining MHD simulation data and dust radiation transfer to model dust trajectories considering radiation pressure and disc winds.

Findings

Radiation pressure significantly affects dust erosion and distribution.

Dust grains are trapped or expelled depending on size and porosity.

Disc winds influence dust movement from accretion to outflows.

Abstract

We explore dust flow in the hottest parts of protoplanetary discs using the forces of gravity, gas drag and radiation pressure. Our main focus is on the optically thin regions of dusty disc, where the dust is exposed to the most extreme heating conditions and dynamical perturbations: the surface of optically thick disc and the inner dust sublimation zone. We utilise results from two numerically strenuous fields of research. The first is the quasi-stationary solutions on gas velocity and density distributions from mangetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of accretion discs. This is critical for implementing a more realistic gas drag impact on dust movements. The second is the optical depth structure from a high-resolution dust radiation transfer. This step is critical for a better understanding of dust distribution within the disc. We describe a numerical method that incorporates these solutions into the dust dynamics equations. We use this to integrate dust trajectories under different disc wind models and show how grains end up trapped in flows that range from simple accretion onto the star to outflows into outer disc regions. We demonstrate how the radiation pressure force plays one of the key roles in this process and cannot be ignored. It erodes the dusty disc surface, reduces its height, resists dust accretion onto the star, and helps the disc wind in pushing grains outwards. The changes in grain size and porosity significantly affect the results, with smaller and porous grains being influenced more strongly by the disc wind and radiation pressure.