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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Planetesimal Formation under Realistic Gas Dynamics: Dust Concentration in Turbulent and Windy Protoplanetary Disks

  • Pinghui Huang1
  • Xue-Ning Bai2
  1. 1Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. 2Tsinghua University
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Abstract

Planetesimals are a key intermediate stage of planet formation and originate from dust concentration in protoplanetary disks, which is strongly regulated by gas dynamics. In this study, we use the multifluid dust module of Athena++ to investigate dust concentration in 2D axisymmetric global nonideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) (ambipolar diffusion (AD)) simulations of outer disks. Our simulations simultaneously launch large-scale MHD disk winds and resolve both streaming instability (SI) and vertical shear instability (VSI). We systematically explore the effects of magnetic-field strength, cooling timescale, ambipolar Elsässer number, and dust size on dust concentration. We find that strong dust clumping persists across a broad range of magnetized and wind-launching disk conditions. MHD winds also enhance dust clumping by modifying background conditions in the following ways: (1) secular gas depletion by MHD wind mass loss and (2) dust trapping in zonal flows as a result of magnetic-flux concentration (which occurs in more strongly magnetized cases). Overall, our results demonstrate that strong dust clumping can persist in global magnetized disks with AD and large-scale MHD winds, leading to conditions favorable for planetesimal formation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{huang2026planetesimal,
  title = {{Planetesimal Formation under Realistic Gas Dynamics: Dust Concentration in Turbulent and Windy Protoplanetary Disks}},
  author = {Pinghui Huang and Xue-Ning Bai},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aeaed9},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaed9},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Planetesimal Formation under Realistic Gas Dynamics: Dust Concentration in Turbulent and Windy Protoplanetary Disks
AU  - Pinghui Huang
AU  - Xue-Ning Bai
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/15
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
DO  - 10.3847/2041-8213/aeaed9
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeaed9
AB  - Planetesimals are a key intermediate stage of planet formation and originate from dust concentration in protoplanetary disks, which is strongly regulated by gas dynamics. In this study, we use the multifluid dust module of Athena++ to investigate dust concentration in 2D axisymmetric global nonideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) (ambipolar diffusion (AD)) simulations of outer disks. Our simulations simultaneously launch large-scale MHD disk winds and resolve both streaming instability (SI) and vertical shear instability (VSI). We systematically explore the effects of magnetic-field strength, cooling timescale, ambipolar Elsässer number, and dust size on dust concentration. We find that strong dust clumping persists across a broad range of magnetized and wind-launching disk conditions. MHD winds also enhance dust clumping by modifying background conditions in the following ways: (1) secular gas depletion by MHD wind mass loss and (2) dust trapping in zonal flows as a result of magnetic-flux concentration (which occurs in more strongly magnetized cases). Overall, our results demonstrate that strong dust clumping can persist in global magnetized disks with AD and large-scale MHD winds, leading to conditions favorable for planetesimal formation.
SN  - 2041-8205
SN  - 2041-8213
ER  -