Ionization and Dust Charging in Protoplanetary Disks

Ionization and Dust Charging in Protoplanetary Disks

Authors:

Ivlev et al

Abstract:

Ionization-recombination balance in dense interstellar and circumstellar environments is a key factor for a variety of important physical processes, such as chemical reactions, dust charging and coagulation, coupling of the gas with magnetic field and the development of magnetorotational instability in protoplanetary disks. We present a self-consistent analytical model which allows us to exactly calculate abundances of charged species in dusty gas, in the regime where the dust-phase recombination dominates over the gas-phase recombination. The model is employed to verify applicability of a conventional approximation of low dust charges in protoplanetary disks, and to discuss the implications for the dust coagulation and the development of the "dead zone" in the disk. Furthermore, the importance of mutually consistent models for the ionization and dust evolution is addressed: These processes are coupled via several mechanisms operating in the disk, and therefore their interplay can be crucial for the ultimate dust evolution and the formation of macroscopic bodies.