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Testing the locality of transport in self-gravitating accretion discs

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posted on 2009-12-08, 16:24 authored by G. Lodato, W. K. M. Rice
In this paper, we examine the issue of characterizing the transport associated with gravitational instabilities in relatively cold discs, discussing in particular the conditions under which it can be described within a local, viscous framework. We present the results of global, three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of self-gravitating accretion discs, in which the disc is cooled using a simple parametrization for the cooling function. Our simulations show that the disc settles in a ‘self-regulated’ state, where the axisymmetric stability parameter Q≈ 1 and where transport and energy dissipation are dominated by self-gravity. We have computed the gravitational stress tensor and compared our results with expectations based on a local theory of transport. We find that, as long as the disc mass is smaller than 0.25M★ and the aspect ratio H/R≲ 0.1, transport is determined locally, thus allowing for a viscous treatment of the disc evolution.

History

Citation

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2004, 351 (2), pp.630-642

Published in

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Astronomical Society

issn

0035-8711

Copyright date

2004

Available date

2009-12-08

Publisher version

http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/351/2/630

Language

en

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