Gravitoturbulent dynamo in global simulations of gaseous disks

TL;DR

This study investigates the global behavior of the gravitoturbulent dynamo in gaseous disks through resistive MHD simulations, revealing a large-scale, global dynamo process with optimal conditions for magnetic amplification and oscillating modes.

Contribution

It provides the first global MHD simulation analysis of the GI dynamo, demonstrating its large-scale nature and identifying optimal parameters for magnetic field growth.

Findings

The dynamo is a global process connecting distant disk regions.

Optimal resistivity and cooling rates enhance magnetic amplification.

The nonlinear state is strongly magnetized and turbulent, with oscillating dynamo modes.

Abstract

The turbulence driven by gravitational instabilities (GIs) can amplify magnetic fields in massive gaseous disks. This GI dynamo may appear in young circumstellar disks, whose weak ionization challenges other amplification routes, as well as in active galactic nuclei. Although regarded as a large-scale dynamo, only local simulations have so far described its kinematic regime. We study the GI dynamo in global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models of accretion disks, focusing on its kinematic phase. We perform resistive MHD simulations with the Pluto code for different radiative cooling times and electrical resistivities. A weak magnetic field seeds the dynamo, and we adopt mean-field and heuristic models to capture its essence. We recover the same induction process leading to magnetic field amplification as previously identified in local simulations. The dynamo is, however, global in nature, connecting distant annuli of the disk via a large-scale dynamo mode of a fixed growth rate. This large-scale amplification can be described by a mean-field model that does not rely on conventional alpha-Omega effects. When varying the disk parameters we find an optimal resistivity that facilitates magnetic amplification, whose magnetic Reynolds number, Rm < 10, is substantially smaller than in local simulations. Unlike local simulations, we find an optimal cooling rate and the existence of global oscillating dynamo modes. The nonlinear saturation of the dynamo puts the disk in a strongly magnetized turbulent state on the margins of the effective range of GI. In our simulations, the accretion power eventually exceeds the threshold required by local thermal balance against cooling, leaving the long-term nonlinear outcome of the GI dynamo uncertain.