Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-11-25
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Submitted to the conference proceedings of the IAU Symposium 276 - The Astrophysics of Planetary Systems: Formation, Structure
Scientific paper
We carry out a resolution study on the fragmentation boundary of self-gravitating discs. We perform three-dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of discs to determine whether the critical value of the cooling timescale in units of the orbital timescale, beta_{crit}, converges with increasing resolution. Using particle numbers ranging from 31,250 to 16 million (the highest resolution simulations to date) we do not find convergence. Instead, fragmentation occurs for longer cooling timescales as the resolution is increased. These results certainly suggest that beta_{crit} is larger than previously thought. However, the absence of convergence also questions whether or not a critical value exists. In light of these results, we caution against using cooling timescale or gravitational stress arguments to deduce whether gravitational instability may or may not have been the formation mechanism for observed planetary systems.
Bate Matthew R.
Meru Farzana
No associations
LandOfFree
Non-convergence of the critical cooling timescale for fragmentation of self-gravitating discs does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Non-convergence of the critical cooling timescale for fragmentation of self-gravitating discs, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Non-convergence of the critical cooling timescale for fragmentation of self-gravitating discs will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-463683