Instabilities and Flow Structures in Protoplanetary Disks: Setting the Stage for Planetesimal Formation

Abstract

This chapter highlights the properties of turbulence and mesoscale flow structures in protoplanetary disks and their role in the planet formation process. Here we focus on the formation of planetesimals from a gravitational collapse of a pebble cloud. Large-scale and long-lived flow structures – vortices and zonal flows – are a consequence of weak magneto- and hydrodynamic instabilities in the pressure and entropy stratified quasi-Keplerian shear flow interacting with the fast rotation of the disk. The vortices and zonal flows on the other hand are particle traps tapping into the radial pebble flux of the disk, leading to locally sufficient accumulations to trigger gravitational collapse, directly converting pebbles to many kilometer sized planetesimals. This collapse is moderated by the streaming instability, which is a back-reaction from the particle accumulations onto the gas flow. Without trapping pebbles and increasing thus the local solid-to-gas ratio, this back-reaction would ultimately prevent the formation of planetesimals via turbulent diffusion. The formation of long-lived flow structures is therefore a necessary condition for an efficient and fast formation of planetesimals.