Topics on Planet-Disk Interaction and Solar Convection

Dempsey, Adam

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-7pcr-mx26

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Topics on Planet-Disk Interaction and Solar Convection

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In this thesis I focus on two topics: planet-disk interaction and solar convection. These two seemingly separate topics are connected via a similar separation of timescales. Planets excite spiral waves in their disks on fast timescales compared to the time for the disk to viscously adjust to the angular momentum deposited by those waves. Similarly, in Solar convection, convective motions transport heat throughout the convective layer of the Sun on a much faster timescale than the entire entropy profile of the Sun adjusts to maintain a steady-state total heat flux. On the topic of planet-disk interaction I develop and simulate a slowly evolving steady-state solution which consists of a pileup of material behind the planet and a fully connected inner and outer disk -- despite the presence of a deep gap. The magnitude of this pileup sets the slow migration rate of the planet such that planet and pileup migrate together, always maintaining an overflowing solution. Moreover, I develop and implement a new angular momentum preserving sink prescription allowing Lagrangian hydrodynamics codes to attain this steady-state solution without the need for a cumbersome inner boundary. I also apply planet migration models to constrain the progenitor disk of the exoplanetary system GJ876 with a suite of N-body simulations, while taking advantage of adaptive mesh refinement methods to efficiently explore the large parameter space. On the topic of Solar convection, I calculate through simplified simulations the depth and thermal properties of the overshooting layer of the Sun, which is the region where convective motions penetrate into the stable layers.

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