Detailed model of the growth of fluffy dust aggregates in a protoplanetary disk: Effects of nebular conditions

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Xiang, C.
Carballido, A.
Matthews, L.S.
Hyde, T.W.

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AAS Publishing

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Coagulation of dust aggregates plays an important role in the formation of planets and is of key importance to the evolution of protoplanetary disks (PPDs). Characteristics of dust, such as the diversity of particle size, porosity, charge, and the manner in which dust couples to turbulent gas, affect the collision outcome and the rate of dust growth. Here we present a numerical model of the evolution of the dust population within a PPD which incorporates all of these effects. The probability that any two particles collide depends on the particle charge, cross-sectional area and their relative velocity. The actual collision outcome is determined by a detailed collision model which takes into account the aggregate morphology, trajectory, orientation, and electrostatic forces acting between charged grains. Our model is applicable to the epoch of time during which hit-and-stick is the primary collision outcome, the duration of which varies greatly depending on the environment. The data obtained in this research reveal the characteristics of dust populations in different environments at the end of the hit-and-stick growth, which establishes the foundation for the onset of the next growth stage where bouncing, mass transfer and fragmentation become important. For a given level of turbulence, neutral and weakly charged particles collide more frequently and grow faster than highly charged particles. In general, the epoch of hit-and-stick growth is much shorter in high turbulence than it is in regions with low turbulence or highly charged grains. In addition, highly charged particles grow to a larger size before reaching the bouncing barrier especially in environments with low turbulence, and exhibit "runaway" growth, in which a few large particles grow quickly by accreting smaller particles while the rest of the population grows very slowly. In general, highly charged aggregates have a more compact structure and are comprised of larger monomers than neutral/weakly charged aggregates. The differences in the particle structure/composition not only affect the threshold velocities for bouncing and fragmentation,

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Astrophysical Journal, 897(2), 182, July 2020

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