Pebble trapping in vortices: three-dimensional simulations

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to explore how vortices in protoplanetary disks trap pebbles, revealing conditions that lead to planetesimal formation through streaming instability and potential gravitational collapse.

Contribution

First 3D simulations of pebble trapping in vortices generated by convective overstability, highlighting stability conditions and implications for planetesimal formation.

Findings

Vortex columns are perturbed at certain pebble sizes and dust ratios.

Streaming instability occurs even at very low dust-to-gas ratios.

Pebble concentrations can exceed Roche density, suggesting possible gravitational collapse.

Abstract

Disk vortices have been heralded as promising routes for planet formation due to their ability to trap significant amounts of pebbles. While the gas motions and trapping properties of two-dimensional vortices have been studied in enough detail in the literature, pebble trapping in three dimensions has received less attention, due to the higher computational demand. Here we use the Pencil Code to study 3D vortices generated by convective overstability and the trapping of solids within them. The gas is unstratified whereas the pebbles settle to the midplane due to vertical gravity. We find that for pebbles of normalized friction times of St = 0.05 and St = 1, and dust-to-gas ratio $\varepsilon=0.01$, the vortex column in the midplane is strongly perturbed. Yet, when the initial dust-to-gas ratio is decreased the vortices remain stable and function as efficient pebble traps. Streaming instability is triggered even for the lowest dust-to-gas ratio ($\varepsilon_0 = 10^{-4}$) and smallest pebble sizes (St = 0.05) we assumed, showing a path for planetesimal formation in vortex cores from even extremely subsolar metallicity. To estimate if the reached overdensities can be held together solely by their own gravity we estimate the Roche density at different radii. Depending on disk model and radial location of the pebble clump we do reach concentrations higher than the Roche density. We infer that if self-gravity was included for the pebbles, then gravitational collapse would likely occur.