MNRAS 000, 1–3 (2021) Preprint 15 February 2021 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.

Kinematics imprints of gravitational instability

Cristiano Longarini,1★ Claudia Toci,1 Giuseppe Lodato,1 Benedetta Veronesi1,2 et al.
1 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
2 Univ Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, Ens de Lyon, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon UMR5574, F-69230, Saint-Genis-Laval, France.

Accepted XXX. Received YYY; in original form ZZZ

ABSTRACT

Key words: keyword1 – keyword2 – keyword3

1 INTRODUCTION instability is described by the well known dispersion relation (Lin &
Shu 1964)
(Hall et al. 2020)
𝐷 (𝜔, 𝑘, 𝑚) = (𝜔 − 𝑚Ω) 2 − 𝑐2s 𝑘 2 + 2𝜋𝐺Σ|𝑘 | − 𝜅 2 = 0, (3)
where 𝜔 is the wave angular frequency, 𝑘 the radial wavenumber,
2 SPIRAL STRUCTURE IN GRAVITATIONALLY 𝑚 the azimuthal wavenumber, 𝜅(𝑟) the epicyclic frequency, Ω(𝑟)
UNSTABLE PROTOSTELLAR DISCS the angular frequency and 𝑐 𝑠 (𝑟) the sound speed. This relationship
has been obtained for an infinitesimally thin disc under the WKB
2.1 The disc’s potential perturbation analysis and in the tight winding limit (i.e. the radial
The gravitational potential of a self-gravitating protostellar disc is wavelength is much smaller than the azimuthal one). The stability
not exactly keplerian: indeed, when 𝑀𝑑 & (𝐻/𝑟)𝑀★, the disc’s criterion can be expressed by means of the Toomre 𝑄 parameter
contribution to the potential is not negligible. In this case, the radial 𝑐𝑠 𝜅
𝑄= , (4)
balance is given by 𝜋𝐺Σ
𝐺 𝑀★ 1 dΦ𝑑 that contains the stabilising terms at numerator and the unstable ones
Ω2 = + , (1) at denominator. The instability threshold is given by 𝑄 = 1: if 𝑄 > 1
𝑟3 𝑟 d𝑟
the disc is stable at all wavelengths while 𝑄 < 1 identifies a range
where the first term is the keplerian frequency and the second one of unstable wavelengths. For the case of an unstable disc, the most
is the disc’s contribution (Bertin & Lodato 1999). The gravitational unstable wavelength is
field generated by the disc can be written as
−1 𝜋𝐺Σ
∫ ∞ 
1
 2  𝑘 uns = 𝐻sg = . (5)
𝜕Φ𝑑
(𝑟, 𝑧) =
𝐺
𝑑𝑟 0 𝐾 (𝜁) −
𝜁
× 𝑐2𝑠
𝜕𝑟 𝑟 0 4 1 − 𝜁2
(2) For a marginally stable disc, i.e. 𝑄 ' 1, the only expected excited
𝑧2
 0  r 0
×
𝑟 𝑟
− 0 + 0 𝐸 (𝜁)
𝑟
𝜁Σ 𝑟0 ,

modes would be 𝑘 ' 𝑘 uns : in this case, equation (3) tells that Ω '
𝑟 𝑟 𝑟𝑟 𝑟 𝜔/𝑚 = Ωp , where Ωp is the perturbation’s pattern frequency. This
means that all excited modes are expected to be close to corotation.
where 𝐸 (𝜁), 𝐾 (𝜁) are the complete elliptic integrals of the first
kind, 𝜁 2 = 4𝑟𝑟 0 /[(𝑟 + 𝑟 0 ) 2 + 𝑧 2 ] and Σ is the disc’s surface density.
Deviations from the keplerian behaviour have actually been seen in
2.2.1 Spiral density waves
the rotation curve of Elias 2-27 (Veronesi et al. 2021), and it is an
effective method for measuring the disc mass. The result of gravitational instability is the development of a large
scale spiral structure that transports angular momentum through the
disc (Kratter & Lodato 2016). A spiral wave is characterised by
2.2 Gravitational instability having

The development of the gravitational instability in self-gravitating 𝑚𝜙 + 𝜓(𝑟) = const, mod 2𝜋, (6)
discs has initially been studied in the context of galactic dynamics
where 𝜓(𝑟) is the shape function. It is linked to the opening angle
(Lin & Shu 1964; Bertin & Lin 1996; Binney & Tremaine 1987): as
of the spiral 𝛼, hereafter the pitch angle: differentiating equation (6),
far as protostellar discs are concerned, the results are quantitatively
we obtain
similar (Kratter & Lodato 2016). The linear response to gravitational
𝑚 d𝜓
tan 𝛼 = , 𝑘= . (7)
𝑟𝑘 d𝑟
★ E-mail: cristiano.longarini@unimi.it If we consider a self-consistent spiral perturbation, we can easily

© 2021 The Authors

2 C. Longarini et al.
link the density perturbation to the potential one (Cossins et al. 2009). of the supersonic difference of speed between the spiral pattern and
The perturbed surface density can be written as the underneath disc. The cooling rate 𝑞 + can be written as (Cossins
et al. 2009)
Σ1 (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑡) = 𝛿Σ(𝑟)𝑒 𝑖 (𝑚𝜙+𝜓 (𝑟 )−𝜔𝑡) ; (8)
1 f  2
the corresponding perturbed potential is given by + 2 M M 𝛿Σ
𝑞 = 𝜖Ω |Ew | = 𝜖Ω𝑐 s , (15)
Σ 2 Σ
2𝜋𝐺
Φ1 (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑡) = − Σ (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑡), (9) where we define the radial phase and Doppler-shifted phase Mach
|𝑘 | 1
numbers to be M = |𝑣 𝑝 |/𝑐 𝑠 and M̃ = | 𝑣˜ 𝑝 |/𝑐 𝑠 and 𝜖 that is the
and thus dimensionless heating factor. Hence, in absence of other significant
2𝜋𝐺 heating terms, the disc cools down until it reaches 𝑄 ∼ 1: at this
𝛿Φ = − 𝛿Σ. (10)
|𝑘 | point, gravitational instability turns on, causing shocks that heat the
disc. The self-regulation condition is given by 𝑞 + − 𝑞 − = 0, giving
 2
2.2.2 Wave energy and angular momentum densities 2 1 1
 
𝛿Σ
= , (16)
Now, we focus on the transport of angular momentum and energy Σ 𝜖 𝛽 𝛾(𝛾 − 1) M M f
through the propagation of spiral density waves in gravitationally un- where we have expressed 𝑒 = 𝑐2𝑠 /𝛾(𝛾 − 1). This condition gives us
stable accretion discs. Within the WKB approximation, it is possible a relation between the amplitude of density perturbations and the
to write the wave action A as (Toomre 1969; Shu 1970) cooling parameter


𝑚 Ωp − Ω
A= |𝛿Φ| 2 . (11) 𝛿Σ
= 𝜒𝛽−1/2 , (17)
8𝜋 2 𝐺 2 Σ Σ
This quantity is essential to compute the wave energy per unit surface where 𝜒 is the proportionality factor, that is of the order of unity.
E 𝑤 and the wave angular momentum per unit surface L 𝑤 , that can
be written as
E 𝑤 = 𝜔A, L 𝑤 = 𝑚A. (12) 3 VELOCITY PERTURBATIONS
Combining (11) with (12), the energy of the density wave can be In this section, we start from the fluid equations for an infinitesimally
written as thin self-gravitating accretion disc, we perturb them with a spiral-
Σ𝑣 p 𝑣˜ p 𝛿Σ 2
  like disturbance and we extract the velocity perturbations, following
Ew = , (13) the formalism of (Binney & Tremaine 1987). We use cylindrical
2 Σ
coordinates (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑧) and we restrict to the 𝑧 = 0 plane. The dynamics
where 𝑣 𝑝 = 𝑚Ωp /𝑘 and 𝑣˜ p = 𝑚(Ωp − Ω)/𝑘 are respectively the is characterised by the Continuity equation, the two components of
radial phase speed and Doppler-shifted radial phase speed of the Euler’s equation, the Poisson’s equation and the equation of state of
wave. the fluid, that are respectively
1 1
𝜕𝑡 Σ + 𝜕𝑟 (Σ𝑢𝑟 𝑟) + 𝜕 𝜙 (Σ𝑢 𝜙 ) = 0,
2.2.3 Thermodynamics 𝑟 𝑟
𝑢 2𝜙
So far, we have discussed only the linear growth of gravitational in- 𝜕𝑡 𝑢𝑟 + 𝑢𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝑢𝑟 +
𝑢𝜙
𝜕𝜙 𝑢𝑟 − = −𝜕𝑟 (Φ + ℎ),
stability, however, to properly understand the outcome of this process, 𝑟 𝑟
we need to consider the non-linear evolution. To do so, it is necessary 𝑢𝜙 𝑢 𝜙 𝑢𝑟 1 (18)
𝜕𝑡 𝑢 𝜙 + 𝑢𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝑢 𝜙 + 𝜕𝜙 𝑢 𝜙 + = − 𝜕 𝜙 (Φ + ℎ),
to introduce a parameter which captures the radiative processes of 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟
the disc. ∇2 Φ = 4𝜋𝐺Σ𝛿(𝑧),
The non-linear growth of perturbations is best understood by using
𝑑ℎ = 𝑐2𝑠
𝑑Σ
numerical simulations (rice, lodato, price, kratter, hall). However, Σ
,
reproducing realistically the cooling processes is not an easy stuff:
where ℎ is the enthalpy of the fluid, 𝑢𝑟 and 𝑢 𝜙 the radial and azimuthal
in the last years, a lot of effort was put into the modeling of these
component of the velocity field.
phenomena (gammie, stamatellos)
The basic state of the system is given by Σ0 , 𝑢 𝜙0 = 𝑟Ω, 𝑢𝑟 0 = 0,
In this paper, we are not interested in the physics of cooling, but
ℎ0 and Φ0 = Φ 𝑘 + Φ𝑑 and the perturbed quantities are Σ1 , 𝑢 𝜙1 , 𝑢𝑟 1 ,
in the relationship between the density perturbations and the rate at
ℎ1 and Φ1 .
which the disc cools. For this reason, we impose a known cooling
The first order moment equations are
law
𝑒 𝜕𝑡 𝑢𝑟 1 + Ω𝜕 𝜙 𝑢𝑟 1 − 2Ω𝑢 𝜙1 = 𝜕𝑟 (Φ1 + ℎ1 ),
𝑞− = − , (14)
𝑡cool 1 (19)
𝜕𝑡 𝑢 𝜙1 − 2𝐵𝑢𝑟 1 + Ω𝜕 𝜙 𝑢 𝜙1 = − 𝜕 𝜙 (Φ1 + ℎ1 ),
where 𝑒 is the internal energy per unit mass and all details of the cool- 𝑟
ing are absorbed by 𝑡 cool . This parameter defines a typical timescale, with
regardless of what process we are taking into account. Typically, the
1 d(Ω𝑟)
ratio between the cooling time and the dynamical one is chosen to be 𝐵(𝑟) = − + Ω, (20)
constant, such that 𝛽 = Ω𝑡 cool = const (lodato, rice, gammie, hall). In 2 d𝑟
order to establish the conditions under which the disc self regulates, and
we need to take into account the heating processes too. The genera- Σ
tion of spiral density waves leads to propagation of shocks, because ℎ1 = 𝑐2𝑠 1 . (21)
Σ0

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 GI wiggle 3
The generic perturbation 𝑋1 can be written as where
2𝑖𝑚
𝜒𝛽−1/2 𝛾,
h i
𝑋1 = Re 𝑋𝑎 (𝑟)𝑒 𝑖 (𝑚𝜙−𝜔𝑡) , 𝑋𝑎 (𝑟) = 𝛿𝑋 (𝑟)𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 , (22) 𝑣𝑟 𝑠 =
𝑟 in Ωin
(1) 𝑖𝑚
and thus equations (19) become 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 =− 𝜒𝛾𝛽−1/2 ,
2Ωin 𝑟 in tan 𝛼in
(32)
2𝑚Ω
  𝑞
(2)
𝑢𝑟 𝑎 =
𝑖
(𝜔 − 𝑚Ω)𝜕𝑟 (Φ𝑎 + ℎ 𝑎 ) − (Φ𝑎 + ℎ 𝑎 ) , 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 =− 𝛽−1/2 ,
Δ 𝑟 Ωin 𝑟 in
(23)  2
1 2𝜋𝐺Σin 𝑟 in tan 𝛼in
 
𝑚(𝜔 − 𝑚Ω) 𝐻
Ω2 𝑟 2 .
𝑢 𝜙𝑎 = − 2𝐵𝜕𝑟 (Φ𝑎 + ℎ 𝑎 ) + (Φ𝑎 + ℎ 𝑎 ) , 𝛾= −
𝑟 in in in
Δ 𝑟 𝑚

with To conclude, the final expression for the velocity field is the fol-
lowing
Δ = 𝜅 2 − (𝜔 − 𝑚Ω) 2 . (24) n o
𝑢 𝜙 = 𝑢 𝜙0 + Re 𝑢 𝜙𝑎 (𝑟)𝑒 𝑖 (𝑚𝜙−𝜔𝑡) =
The last two equations can be simplified by making some assump-
= 𝑢 𝜙0 + [𝑣 𝜙𝑠 cos(𝑚𝜙 + 𝜓 − 𝜔𝑡) 𝑟˜1/2+2𝑞 +
(2)
tions: firstly, we consider a maginally stable accretion disc with (33)
𝑄 ' 1, meaning that Δ = 𝜅 2 and 𝑘 = 𝑘 uns . Secondly, both the poten-
+ 𝑖𝑣 𝜙𝑠 sin(𝑚𝜙 + 𝜓 − 𝜔𝑡) 𝑟˜3/2+ 𝑝 ]
(2)
tial (9) and the enthalpy (21) perturbations are linked to the density
one that, in turn, is connected to the unperturbed state through the n o
cooling rate (17). We write then 𝑢𝑟 = Re 𝑢𝑟 𝑎 (𝑟)𝑒 𝑖 (𝑚𝜙−𝜔𝑡) =
(34)
2𝜋𝐺 2𝜋𝐺 −1/2 = −𝑖𝑣 𝑟 𝑠 sin(𝑚𝜙 + 𝜓 − 𝜔𝑡) 𝑟˜1/2−2𝑞 .
Φ𝑎 = − Σ𝑎 = − 𝜒𝛽 Σ0 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 , (25)
|𝑘 | |𝑘 |
and
3.2 Not constant cooling
Σ𝑎
ℎ 𝑎 = 𝑐2𝑠 = 𝑐2𝑠 𝜒𝛽−1/2 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 . (26)
Σ0 𝑢𝑟 𝑎 = 𝑣 𝑟 𝑠 𝛽−1/2 𝑟˜1/2−2𝑞 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 ,
The velocity perturbations become then
𝑢 𝜙𝑎 = 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 𝛽−1/2 𝑟˜3/2+ 𝑝 + 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 𝛽−1/2 𝑟˜1/2+2𝑞 +

(1) (2)
(35)
2𝑖𝑚Ω −1/2 2𝜋𝐺
 
2 𝑖𝜓
+𝑣 𝜙𝑠 𝑟˜3/2+2𝑞 𝜕𝑟 (𝛽−1/2 ) 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓

(3)
𝑢𝑟 𝑎 = Σ −
|𝑘 | 0
𝜒𝛽 𝑐 𝑠 𝑒 ,
𝑟 𝜅2
(27)
2𝐵 −1/2 2𝜋𝐺
   
2 𝑖𝜓
𝑢 𝜙𝑎 = 2 𝜒𝜕𝑟 𝛽 Σ − 𝑐𝑠 𝑒
|𝑘 | 0
.
𝜅
4 CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
3.1 Nearly Keplerian disc DATA AVAILABILITY
In this paragraph, we write the velocity perturbations for a nearly REFERENCES
keplerian disc. This regime is identified by the conditions that
Bertin G., Lin C. C., 1996, Spiral structure in galaxies a density wave theory
𝜅 − Ω𝑘 Bertin G., Lodato G., 1999, A&A, 350, 694
< 1, Binney J., Tremaine S., 1987, Galactic dynamics
Ω𝑘
(28) Cossins P., Lodato G., Clarke C. J., 2009, MNRAS, 393, 1157
Ω − Ω𝑘
< 1, Hall C., et al., 2020, ApJ, 904, 148
Ω𝑘 Kratter K., Lodato G., 2016, ARA&A, 54, 271
where with the subscript k we identify the keplerian quantities. This Lin C. C., Shu F. H., 1964, ApJ, 140, 646
Shu F. H., 1970, ApJ, 160, 99
assumption allows us to write 𝜅 ' Ω ' Ω 𝑘 ∝ 𝑟˜−3/2 and 𝐵 ' −Ω/4.
Toomre A., 1969, ApJ, 158, 899
We introduce a prescription for the basic state:

Σ0 (𝑟) = Σ0,in 𝑟˜ 𝑝 ,
(29)
𝑐 𝑠 (𝑟) = 𝑐 𝑠,in 𝑟˜𝑞 , APPENDIX A:

with 𝑟˜ = 𝑟/𝑟 in ; it implies that

This paper has been typeset from a TEX/LATEX file prepared by the author.
𝑘 = 𝑘 in 𝑟˜ 𝑝−2𝑞 ,
(30)
tan 𝛼 = tan 𝛼in 𝑟˜2𝑞− 𝑝−1 .

Putting all together, the expressions for the perturbations can be

written in a simpler form

𝑢𝑟 𝑎 = 𝑣 𝑟 𝑠 𝑟˜1/2−2𝑞 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 ,
(31)
𝑢 𝜙𝑎 = 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 𝑟˜3/2+ 𝑝 + 𝑣 𝜙𝑠 𝑟˜1/2+2𝑞 𝑒 𝑖 𝜓 ,
 
(1) (2)

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4 C. Longarini et al.

Figure 1. Moment one map (top) and channel maps (bottom) for a self gravitating accretion disc seen with an inclination angle of 𝜋/6 and with a systemic
velocity 𝑣syst = 0. The parameters of the disc are the following: 𝑟in = 1 au, 𝑟out = 100 au, 𝑀∗ = 1 M , 𝑀𝑑 = 0.2M∗ , 𝑝 = −1, 𝑞 = −0.25, 𝐻 /𝑟 = 0.1, 𝛽 = 7.5,
𝛼 = 15◦ and 𝑚 = 2. The channels are (from left to right): 𝑣ch1 = 0 km/s, 𝑣ch2 = 0.7 km/s, 𝑣ch3 = 1.3 km/s, 𝑣ch4 = 1.7 km/s.

Figure 2. Shape of the wiggle varying the cooling factor 𝛽 (left box), the pitch angle 𝛼 (centre box) and the azimuthal wavenumber 𝑚 (right box). The standard
disc’s parameters are 𝑟in = 1 au, 𝑟out = 100 au, 𝑀∗ = 1 M , 𝑀𝑑 = 0.2M∗ , 𝑝 = −1, 𝑞 = −0.25, 𝐻 /𝑟 = 0.1, 𝛽 = 7.5, 𝛼 = 15◦ and 𝑚 = 2.

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