Buoyancy response of a disk to an embedded planet: a cross-code comparison at high resolution

TL;DR

This study compares different numerical simulation codes to understand how buoyancy responses in protoplanetary disks influence planet migration, highlighting the importance of high resolution or advanced schemes for accurate modeling.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that high-resolution or high-order numerical schemes are essential to accurately capture buoyancy effects in planet-disk interactions, revealing limitations of certain finite-volume codes.

Findings

PLUTO/IDEFIX struggle with higher-order buoyancy modes

High resolution or high-order schemes are necessary for accurate simulations

Buoyancy effects significantly influence planet migration rates

Abstract

In radiatively inefficient, laminar protoplanetary disks, embedded planets can excite a buoyancy response as gas gets deflected vertically near the planet. This results in vertical oscillations that drive a vortensity growth in the planet's corotating region, speeding up inward migration in the type-I regime. We present a comparison between PLUTO/IDEFIX and FARGO3D using 3D, inviscid, adiabatic numerical simulations of planet-disk interaction that feature the buoyancy response of the disk, and show that PLUTO/IDEFIX struggle to resolve higher-order modes of the buoyancy-related oscillations, weakening vortensity growth and the associated torque. We interpret this as a drawback of total-energy-conserving, finite-volume schemes. Our results indicate that a very high resolution or high-order scheme is required in shock-capturing codes in order to adequately capture this effect.