Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2000
Journal Title
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume Number
545
Issue Number
1
First Page
494
Last Page
503
DOI
10.1086/317771
Version
Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting
Disciplines
Physics
Abstract
The fate of small regions of vorticity in a barotropic model of the protoplanetary nebula is investigated over thousands of years using a finite difference model. It is found that the coherence time for a small island of vorticity depends on its size, strength, orientation, and radial location in the nebula. Anticyclonic vorticity retains its coherence for longer times than cyclonic vorticity due to favorable interactions with the Keplerian shear flow. Rossby waves are generated as a result of mean vorticity gradients across the disk. The two-dimensional nebula evolves from discrete vortices into an axisymmetric flow consisting of small-amplitude vortex sheets at the radial locations of the initial vorticity. These vortex sheets induce an additional small, potential flow velocity superimposed on the Keplerian rotation curve.
Digital USD Citation
Davis, S. S.; Sheehan, D. P.; and Cuzzi, J. N., "ON THE PERSISTENCE OF SMALL REGIONS OF VORTICITY IN THE PROTOPLANETARY NEBULA" (2000). Physics and Biophysics: Faculty Scholarship. 15.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/phys-faculty/15