MHD disc winds can reproduce fast disc dispersal and the correlation between accretion rate and disc mass in Lupus

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that magnetized disc winds can explain the observed rapid dispersal of protoplanetary discs and the correlation between accretion rate and disc mass in Lupus, supporting wind-driven accretion models.

Contribution

It provides a combined analytical and population synthesis model showing MHD disc winds alone can reproduce disc dispersal and accretion properties observed in Lupus.

Findings

MHD disc winds can account for disc dispersal and accretion trends.

The model reproduces the correlation between accretion rate and disc mass.

Rapid disc dispersal is naturally explained by the model.

Abstract

The final architecture of planetary systems depends on the extraction of angular momentum and mass-loss processes of the discs in which they form. Theoretical studies proposed that magnetized winds launched from the discs (MHD disc winds) could govern accretion and disc dispersal. In this work, we revisit the observed disc demographics in the framework of MHD disc winds, combining analytical solutions of disc evolution and a disc population synthesis approach. We show that MHD disc winds alone can account for both disc dispersal and accretion properties. The decline of disc fraction over time is reproduced by assuming that the initial accretion timescale (a generalization of the viscous timescale) varies from disc to disc and that the decline of the magnetic field strength is slower than that of the gas. The correlation between accretion rate and disc mass, and the dispersion of the data around the mean trend as observed in Lupus is then naturally reproduced. The model also accounts for the rapidity of the disc dispersal. This paves the way for planet formation models in the paradigm of wind-driven accretion.