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[46.17] A Model of a Passive Accretion Disk Perturbed by a Protoplanet

H. Jang-Condell, D. Sasselov (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

We model the effect of a perturber inside a protoplanetary disk and the corresponding effects on disk structure and irradiation heating. The disk model is that of an irradiated passive accretion disk. While a large protoplanet whose Hill radius is larger than the disk scale-height will open a gap in on short timescales, the effect of a smaller protoplanet is subtler. Its gravitational potential will introduce a perturbation in the density structure of the disk in the vicinity of the protoplanet. A depression will have a shadowed side which will become cooler, and an illuminated side which will become heated. The size of the perturbation depends on the mass of the protoplanet. It appears that the detailed three-dimensional and thermal structure of the disk in the vicinity of a protoplanet may have profound consequences for dust settling, gap formation, migration, and planet growth.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: hjang@cfa.harvard.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.