3D SPH simulations of grain growth in protoplanetary disks

Guillaume Laibe (1) , Jean-François Gonzalez (1) , Laure Fouchet (2) , Sarah T. Maddison (3)

1 CRAL - Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon
2 ETHZ - Physics Department
3 Center for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

We present the first results of the treatment of grain growth in our 3D, two-fluid (gas+dust) SPH code describing protoplanetary disks. We implement a scheme able to reproduce the variation of grain sizes caused by a variety of physical processes and test it with the analytical expression of grain growth given by Stepinski & Valageas (1997) in simulations of a typical T Tauri disk around a one solar mass star. The results are in agreement with a turbulent growing process and validate the method. We are now able to simulate the grain growth process in a protoplanetary disk given by a more realistic physical description, currently under development. We discuss the implications of the combined effect of grain growth and dust vertical settling and radial migration on subsequent planetesimal formation.

Mots clés: planetary systems: protoplanetary disks; hydrodynamics; methods: numerical

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Guillaume Laibe, Jean-François Gonzalez, Laure Fouchet, Sarah T. Maddison. 3D SPH simulations of grain growth in protoplanetary disks. Exoplanets: Detection, Formation and Dynamics, Oct 2007, Suzhou, China. ⟨hal-00194109v2⟩