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Session 25 - Stellar Winds, Accretion, & Molecular Clouds.
Oral session, Monday, January 15
La Condesa, Hilton
A two-dimensional numerical hydrodynamics code is developed to model viscous accretion discs, employing the method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics. The effective shear viscosity present in the code is evaluated. Using a polytropic equation of state, models of self-gravitating accretion disks are evolved with a range of physical parameters, including viscosity. From these models it is found that a characteristic mass accretion rate, constant with time, tends to be maintained by the accretion disks, and that mass accretion is inversely proportional to the strength of the local shear viscous force. This is a consequence of the damping effect of local viscous forces upon the global non-axisymmetric modes that primarily drive accretion in these disks. In addition, the formation of satellites is observed in models which also develop a dominating m=1 tidal mode. The relevance of these satellites to planet formation is speculated.
