A Self-Consistent Model for Dust-Gas Coupling in Protoplanetary Disks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, self-consistent model for dust-gas coupling in protoplanetary disks, predicting the radial variation of the Stokes number and its dramatic increase at the water-ice line, impacting planet formation processes.

Contribution

The model provides a unique calculation of the Stokes number profile based on disk parameters, improving understanding of dust dynamics in protoplanetary disks.

Findings

Stokes number grows sub-linearly with radius

Significant increase in Stokes number across the water-ice line

Inner disk contains mm-sized silicate dust, outer disk has cm-sized icy grains

Abstract

Various physical processes that ensue within protoplanetary disks -- including vertical settling of icy/rocky grains, radial drift of solids, planetesimal formation, as well as planetary accretion itself -- are facilitated by hydrodynamic interactions between H/He gas and high-$Z$ dust. The Stokes number, which quantifies the strength of dust-gas coupling, thus plays a central role in protoplanetary disk evolution, and its poor determination constitutes an important source of uncertainty within the theory of planet formation. In this work, we present a simple model for dust-gas coupling, and demonstrate that for a specified combination of the nebular accretion rate, $\dot{M}$, and turbulence parameter, $\alpha$, the radial profile of the Stokes number can be calculated uniquely. Our model indicates that the Stokes number grows sub-linearly with orbital radius, but increases dramatically across the water-ice line. For fiducial protoplanetary disk parameters of $\dot{M}=10^{-8}\,M_{\odot}/$year and $\alpha=10^{-3}$, our theory yields characteristic values of the Stokes number on the order of $\mathrm{St}\sim10^{-4}$ (corresponding to $\sim$mm-sized silicate dust) in the inner nebula and $\mathrm{St}\sim10^{-1}$ (corresponding to $\sim$few-cm-sized icy grains), in the outer regions of the disk. Accordingly, solids are expected to settle into a thin sub-disk at large stellocentric distances, while remaining vertically well-mixed inside the ice line.