Rossby wave instability in astrophysical discs

2013/12/31 by R. V. E. Lovelace, M. M. Romanova · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Anticyclone #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Atmospheric sciences #Instability #Mechanics #Perturbation (astronomy) #Physics #Planet #Planetesimal #RADIUS #Rossby number #Rossby radius of deformation #Rossby wave #Rotational symmetry #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Turbulence #Vortex #astro-ph.SR

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0169-5983/46/4/041401

published as Fluid Dynamics Research 46 (2014) 041401 (IOP Publishing: The Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics) · 11 pages, 4 figures

openalex publication_date 2014/04/09 · arxiv created 2014/04/10 · arxiv updated 2014/04/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

A brief review is given of the Rossby wave instability in astrophysical discs. In non-self-gravitating discs, around for example a newly forming stars, the instability can be triggered by an axisymmetric bump at some radius r 0 in the disc surface mass-density. It gives rise to exponentially growing non-axisymmetric perturbation ( , m = 1,2,...) in the vicinity of r 0 consisting of anticyclonic vortices. These vortices are regions of high pressure and consequently act to trap dust particles which in turn can facilitate planetesimal growth in proto-planetary discs. The Rossby vortices in the discs around stars and black holes may cause the observed quasi-periodic modulations of the disc's thermal emission.

Citations

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Cited by

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• On the Rossby wave instability in accretion discs surrounding spinning black holes

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• Rossby Wave Instability with Self-Gravity
• The Dusty Rossby Wave Instability (DRWI): Linear Analysis and Simulations of Turbulent Dust-Trapping Rings in Protoplanetary Discs