Nonlinear Evolution of the Unstratified Polydisperse Dust Settling Instability

TL;DR

This study investigates the nonlinear behavior of the Dust Settling Instability (DSI) in unstratified environments, revealing how polydispersity influences dust density and structure formation relevant to planetesimal development.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed nonlinear analysis of both mono- and polydisperse DSI, highlighting convergence issues and morphological differences in dust structures.

Findings

Polydisperse DSI converges with the number of species and produces lower dust densities.

Monodisperse DSI leads to high dust densities conducive to clumping.

Dust species form separate filaments, affecting dust growth and clumping.

Abstract

Context. The Dust Settling Instabilty (DSI) is a member of the Resonant Drag Instabilities (RDI) family, and is thus related to the Streaming Instability (SI). Linear calculations found that the unstratified monodisperse DSI has growth rates much higher than the SI even with lower initial dust to gas ratios. However, recent nonlinear investigation found no evidence of strong dust clumping at the saturation level. Aims. To investigate the nonlinear saturation of the mono- and polydisperse DSI. We examine the convergence behaviour wrt. both the numerical resolution and the number of species. By characterising the morphology of the dust evolution triggered by the DSI, we can shed more light on its role in planetesimal formation. Methods. We perform a suite of 2D shearing box hydro simulations with the code Idefix, both in the mono- and polydisperse regimes. We focus on the time evolution of the maximum dust density, noting the time at which the instability is triggered, as well as analyse the morphology of the resultant structure. Results. In our monodisperse simulations, the maximum dust density increases and the instability saturates earlier with higher spatial resolution, with no signs of convergence. The polydisperse simulations do seem to converge with the number of species and produce maximum dust densities that are comparable to, albeit lower than, the monodisperse simulations. Different dust species tend to form adjacent but separate dust filaments, which may have implications on dust growth and further clumping. Conclusions. The monodisperse DSI produces dust structure at densities high enough that likely leads to clumping. The polydisperse DSI produces lower but comparable dust densities. Our idealised treatment suggests that the DSI is important for planetesimal formation, as it suffers less than the SI from including a dust size distribution.