Secular evolution of viscous and self-gravitating protoplanetary discs with magnetic winds

Abstract

Traditionally, the disc is believed to evolve under the influence of turbulent viscosity, although the importance of this mechanism has recently been questioned. Alternatively, magnetic disc wind or gravitational instability could be considered, but which of these three mechanisms contributes the most at a given evolutionary stage remains an open question. We present global numerical hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary disc evolution in the thin-disc limit on disc lifetime timescales, including all three mechanisms of mass and angular momentum transport. We calculate the gravitational, viscous, and magnetic torques to assess the contribution of each mechanism. We found that these transport mechanisms occupy distinct zones of influence in the disc depending on the stage of evolution: the dominance of disc self-gravity during the early phase is replaced by the prevalence of magnetic disc wind and viscosity, with the latter being especially relevant at the disc periphery. We show that a noticeable decrease in disc mass occurs only after the termination of the embedded phase. The suppression of disc viscous spreading is achieved only for the most intense wind; otherwise, the disc continues to grow in size till the end of simulations. The spiral structure contributes to the temporary retention of dust in the disc. However, this is insufficient to prevent the depletion of dust on long timescales. The results emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to long-term simulations of protoplanetary discs with no single mechanism of mass and angular momentum transport regarded as exclusive.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{redkin2026secular,
  title = {{Secular evolution of viscous and self-gravitating protoplanetary discs with magnetic winds}},
  author = {Evgenii R. Redkin and Eduard I. Vorobyov and Paola Pinilla and Fabiola A. Gerosa and Konstanze Zwintz},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.17526},
  eprint = {2609.17526},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17526},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Secular evolution of viscous and self-gravitating protoplanetary discs with magnetic winds
AU  - Evgenii R. Redkin
AU  - Eduard I. Vorobyov
AU  - Paola Pinilla
AU  - Fabiola A. Gerosa
AU  - Konstanze Zwintz
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/15
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.17526
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17526
AB  - Traditionally, the disc is believed to evolve under the influence of turbulent viscosity, although the importance of this mechanism has recently been questioned. Alternatively, magnetic disc wind or gravitational instability could be considered, but which of these three mechanisms contributes the most at a given evolutionary stage remains an open question. We present global numerical hydrodynamic simulations of protoplanetary disc evolution in the thin-disc limit on disc lifetime timescales, including all three mechanisms of mass and angular momentum transport. We calculate the gravitational, viscous, and magnetic torques to assess the contribution of each mechanism. We found that these transport mechanisms occupy distinct zones of influence in the disc depending on the stage of evolution: the dominance of disc self-gravity during the early phase is replaced by the prevalence of magnetic disc wind and viscosity, with the latter being especially relevant at the disc periphery. We show that a noticeable decrease in disc mass occurs only after the termination of the embedded phase. The suppression of disc viscous spreading is achieved only for the most intense wind; otherwise, the disc continues to grow in size till the end of simulations. The spiral structure contributes to the temporary retention of dust in the disc. However, this is insufficient to prevent the depletion of dust on long timescales. The results emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to long-term simulations of protoplanetary discs with no single mechanism of mass and angular momentum transport regarded as exclusive.
ER  -

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