NONAXISYMMETRIC EVOLUTION OF DYNAMICALLY CONTRACTING DISKS AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR BINARY FORMATION

Citation
F. Nakamura et T. Hanawa, NONAXISYMMETRIC EVOLUTION OF DYNAMICALLY CONTRACTING DISKS AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR BINARY FORMATION, The Astrophysical journal, 480(2), 1997, pp. 701-704
Citations number
30
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Journal title
ISSN journal
0004637X
Volume
480
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Part
1
Pages
701 - 704
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-637X(1997)480:2<701:NEODCD>2.0.ZU;2-C
Abstract
Using the thin disk approximation we study nonaxisymmetric evolution o f a rotating magnetized disk during its dynamic collapse. Since the di sk shrinks in size and mass during the collapse, we introduce the zoom ing coordinates in which the length and timescales shorten with the ti me in accordance with the collapse. These coordinates enable us to fol low the nonaxisymmetric evolution of the disk with high spatial resolu tion even for the late stage. Numerical simulations show the nonlinear evolution of a perturbation superimposed on a dynamically contracting disk. When a perturbation is absent, the disk is apparently stationar y in the zooming coordinates and fits a similarity solution for a dyna mically collapsing disk. The disk is unstable against the bar (m = 2) mode; a perturbation grows to change the disk into a bar. In the early phase, the growth is proportional to (t(0)-t)(-0.6), where t(0) denot es an epoch. The length of the bar is about a hundredth of the initial disk diameter. The width of the bar is much shorter than the length. Then the bar is likely to be unstable against fragmentation and to fra gment into many small, denser cores. We expect that the small denser c ores evolve into binary or multiple stars after merger, scatter, and a ccretion.