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We carry out three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to study the role of gravitational and drag forces on the concentration of large dust grains (St > 1) in the spiral arms of gravitationally unstable protoplanetary discs, and the resulting implications for planet formation. We find that both drag and gravity play an important role in the evolution of large dust grains. If we include both, grains that would otherwise be partially decoupled will become well coupled and trace the spirals. For the dust grains most influenced by drag (with Stokes numbers near unity), the dust disc quickly becomes gravitationally unstable and rapidly forms clumps with masses between 0.15–6 M ⊕. A large fraction of clumps are below the threshold where runaway gas accretion can occur. However, if dust self-gravity is neglected, the dust is unable to form clumps, despite still becoming trapped in the gas spirals. When large dust grains are unable to feel either gas gravity or drag, the dust is unable to trace the gas spirals. Hence, full physics is needed to properly simulate dust in gravitationally unstable discs. Dust trapping of large grains in spiral arms of discs stable to gas fragmentation could explain planet formation in very young discs by a population of planetesimals formed due to the combined roles of drag and gravity in the earliest stages of a disc's evolution. Furthermore, it highlights that gravitationally unstable discs are not just important for forming gas giants quickly, it can also rapidly form Earth mass bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young protostellar discs are likely to be both self-gravitating, and to support grain growth to sizes where the particles decoupled from the gas. This combination could lead to short-wavelength fragmentation of the solid component in otherwise non-fragmenting gas discs, forming Earth-mass solid cores during the Class 0/I stages of young stellar object evolution. We use three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of two-fluid discs, in the regime where the Stokes number of the particles St > 1, to study how the formation of solid clumps depends on the disc-to-star mass ratio, the strength of gravitational instability, and the Stokes number. Gravitational instability of the simulated discs is sustained by local cooling. We find that the ability of the spiral structures to concentrate solids increases with the cooling time and decreases with the Stokes number, while the relative dynamical temperature between gas and dust of the particles decreases with the cooling time and the disc-to-star mass ratio and increases with the Stokes number. Dust collapse occurs in a subset of high disc mass simulations, yielding clumps whose mass is close to linear theory estimates, namely 1–10 M⊕. Our results suggest that if planet formation occurs via this mechanism, the best conditions correspond to near the end of the self-gravitating phase, when the cooling time is long and the Stokes number close to unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protoplanetary discs (PPDs) can host a number of instabilities that may partake directly or indirectly in the process of planetesimal formation. These include the vertical shear instability (VSI), convective overstability (COS), streaming instability (SI), and dust settling instability (DSI), to name a few. Notably, the VSI and COS have mostly been studied in purely gaseous discs, while the SI and DSI have only been analysed in isothermal discs. How these instabilities operate under more general conditions is therefore unclear. To this end, we devise a local model of a PPD describing a non-isothermal gas interacting with a single species of dust via drag forces. Using this, we find that dust drag sets minimum length-scales below which the VSI and COS are suppressed. Similarly, we find that the SI can be suppressed on sufficiently small scales by the gas' radial buoyancy if it cools on roughly a dynamical time-scale. We show that the DSI can be effectively stabilized by vertical buoyancy, except at special radial and vertical length-scales. We also find novel instabilities unique to a dusty, non-isothermal gas. These result in a dusty analogue of the COS that operates in slowly cooled discs, and a dusty version of the VSI that is strongly enhanced by dust settling. We briefly discuss the possible implications of our results on planetesimal formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present N -body simulations, including post-Newtonian dynamics, of dense clusters of low-mass stars harbouring central black holes (BHs) with initial masses of 50, 300, and 2000 M⊙. The models are evolved with the N -body code bifrost to investigate the possible formation and growth of massive BHs by the tidal capture of stars and tidal disruption events (TDEs). We model star–BH tidal interactions using a velocity-dependent drag force, which causes orbital energy and angular momentum loss near the BH. About ∼20–30 per cent of the stars within the spheres of influence of the black holes form Bahcall–Wolf cusps and prevent the systems from core collapse. Within the first 40 Myr of evolution, the systems experience 500–1300 TDEs, depending on the initial cluster structure. Most (>95 per cent) of the TDEs originate from stars in the Bahcall–Wolf cusp. We derive an analytical formula for the TDE rate as a function of the central BH mass, density, and velocity dispersion of the clusters (⁠|$\dot{N}_{\mathrm{TDE}} \propto M\mathrm{_{BH}}\rho \sigma ^{-3}$|⁠). We find that TDEs can lead a 300 M⊙ BH to reach |$\sim 7000 \, \mathrm{{M}_{\odot }}$| within a Gyr. This indicates that TDEs can drive the formation and growth of massive BHs in sufficiently dense environments, which might be present in the central regions of nuclear star clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the survival, growth, and dynamics of cold gas is fundamental to galaxy formation. While there has been a plethora of work on 'wind tunnel' simulations that study such cold gas in winds, the infall of this gas under gravity is at least equally important, and fundamentally different since cold gas can never entrain. Instead, velocity shear increases and remains unrelenting. If these clouds are growing, they can experience a drag force due to the accretion of low-momentum gas, which dominates over ram pressure drag. This leads to subvirial terminal velocities, in line with observations. We develop simple analytic theory and predictions based on turbulent radiative mixing layers. We test these scalings in 3D hydrodynamic simulations, both for an artificial constant background and a more realistic stratified background. We find that the survival criterion for infalling gas is more stringent than in a wind, requiring that clouds grow faster than they are destroyed (⁠|$t_{\rm grow} \lt 4\, t_{\rm cc}$|⁠). This can be translated to a critical pressure, which for Milky Way-like conditions is |$P \sim 3000 \, {k}_\mathrm{ B} \, {\rm K}\, {\rm cm}^{-3}$|⁠. Cold gas that forms via linear thermal instability (t cool/ t ff < 1) in planar geometry meets the survival threshold. In stratified environments, larger clouds need only survive infall until cooling becomes effective. We discuss applications to high-velocity clouds and filaments in galaxy clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radiation drag in photon-rich environments of cosmic explosions can seed kinetic instabilities by inducing velocity spreads between relativistically streaming plasma components. Such microturbulence is likely imprinted on the breakout signals of radiation-mediated shocks. However, large-scale, transverse magnetic fields in the deceleration region of the shock transition can suppress the dominant kinetic instabilities by preventing the development of velocity separations between electron–positron pairs and a heavy ion species. We use a 1D five-fluid radiative transfer code to generate self-consistent profiles of the radiation drag force and plasma composition in the deceleration region. For increasing magnetization, our models predict rapidly growing pair multiplicities and a substantial radiative drag developing self-similarly throughout the deceleration region. We extract the critical magnetization parameter σ c , determining the limiting magnetic field strength at which a three-species plasma can develop kinetic instabilities before reaching the isotropized downstream. For a relativistic, single ion plasma drifting with γ u  = 10 in the upstream of a relativistic radiation-mediated shock, we find the threshold σ c ≈ 10−7 for the onset of microturbulence. Suppression of plasma instabilities in the case of multi-ion composition would likely require much higher values of σ c . Identifying high-energy signatures of microturbulence in shock breakout signals and combining them with the magnetization limits provided in this work will allow a deeper understanding of the magnetic environment of cosmic explosions like supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and neutron star binary mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent observations show that planet formation is already underway in young systems, when the protostar is still embedded into the molecular cloud and the accretion disc is massive. In such environments, the role of self-gravity (SG) and gravitational instability (GI) is crucial in determining the dynamical evolution of the disc. In this work, we study the dynamical role of drag force in self-gravitating discs as a way to form planetesimals in early protoplanetary stages. We obtain the dispersion relation for density-wave perturbations on a fluid composed of two phases (gas and dust) interacting through the common gravitation field and the mutual drag force, and we find that the stability threshold is determined by three parameters: the local dust-to-gas density ratio, the dust relative temperature, and the relevant Stokes number. In a region of parameters space, where young protoplanetary discs are likely to be found, the instability can be dust driven , occurring at small wavelengths. In this regime, the Jeans mass is much smaller than the one predicted by the standard GI model. This mechanism can be a viable way to form planetary cores in protostellar discs, since their predicted mass is about ∼10 M⊕. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supernova ejecta and stellar winds are believed to produce interstellar dust grains with relatively large sizes. Smaller grains can be produced via the shattering of large grains that have been stochastically accelerated. To understand this stochastic acceleration, we have implemented novel magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) particle-in-cell methods into the astrophysical fluid code ramses. We treat dust grains as a set of massive 'superparticles' that experience aerodynamic drag and Lorentz force. We subject our code to a range of numerical tests designed to validate our method in different physical conditions, as well as to illustrate possible mechanisms by which grains can be accelerated. As a final test as well as a foundation for future work, we present the results of decaying dusty MHD turbulence simulations with grain parameters chosen to resemble 1–2 μm grains in typical cold neutral medium conditions. We find that in these conditions, these grains can be effectively accelerated to well beyond their shattering velocities. This is true for both electrically charged and neutral grains. While the peak of the gas-grain relative drift velocity distribution is higher for neutral grains, the drift velocity distribution of charged grains exhibits an extended exponential tail out to much greater velocities. Even so, the shapes of the distributions are such that the extra gas-grain coupling provided by the Lorentz force offers grains relative protection from shattering. We also discuss the connection between our simulations and the relatively pristine ∼μm-sized pre-solar grains that do not appear to have undergone significant wear in their lifetimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the dynamics of clumps that coexisted with/in advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) by considering thermal conductivity. Thermal conduction can be one of the effective factors in the energy transportation of ADAFs; hence it may indirectly affect the dynamics of clumps by means of a contact force between them and their host medium. We first study the ensemble of clumps by assuming them as collisionless particles, and secondly we find the orbital motion of these clouds as individuals. For both parts, clumps are subject to the gravity of the central object and a drag force. The strong coupling between clumps and ADAF leads to equality between the average treatment of the clumps and the dynamics of their background. By employing the collisionless Boltzmann equation, we calculate the velocity dispersion of the clumps, which turns out to be approximately one order of magnitude higher than the ADAF. In fact, involving drag force in such a system causes the angular momentum of the clumps to be transported outwards by the ADAF, and hence the clouds eventually will be captured at the tidal radius. The results show that the presence of thermal conduction increases the root of the averaged radial velocity square, and this, in turn, speeds up the process of capturing the clouds through the tidal force. In the end, we focus on a typical individual cloud; the spiral orbits appear only due to the toroidal component of friction force. The parametric study again proves that the operation of thermal conduction helps in decreasing the lifetime of clumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Misalignments between the rotation axis of stars and gas are an indication of external processes shaping galaxies throughout their evolution. Using observations of 3068 galaxies from the SAMI Galaxy Survey, we compute global kinematic position angles for 1445 objects with reliable kinematics and identify 169 (12 per cent) galaxies which show stellar-gas misalignments. Kinematically decoupled features are more prevalent in early-type/passive galaxies compared to late-type/star-forming systems. Star formation is the main source of gas ionization in only 22 per cent of misaligned galaxies; 17 per cent are Seyfert objects, while 61 per cent show Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region features. We identify the most probable physical cause of the kinematic decoupling and find that, while accretion-driven cases are dominant, for up to 8 per cent of our sample, the misalignment may be tracing outflowing gas. When considering only misalignments driven by accretion, the acquired gas is feeding active star formation in only ∼1/4 of cases. As a population, misaligned galaxies have higher Sérsic indices and lower stellar spin and specific star formation rates than appropriately matched samples of aligned systems. These results suggest that both morphology and star formation/gas content are significantly correlated with the prevalence and timescales of misalignments. Specifically, torques on misaligned gas discs are smaller for more centrally concentrated galaxies, while the newly accreted gas feels lower viscous drag forces in more gas-poor objects. Marginal evidence of star formation not being correlated with misalignment likelihood for late-type galaxies suggests that such morphologies in the nearby Universe might be the result of preferentially aligned accretion at higher redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiation-dust driven outflows, where radiation pressure on dust grains accelerates gas, occur in many astrophysical environments. Almost all previous numerical studies of these systems have assumed that the dust was perfectly coupled to the gas. However, it has recently been shown that the dust in these systems is unstable to a large class of 'resonant drag instabilities' (RDIs) which de-couple the dust and gas dynamics and could qualitatively change the non-linear outcome of these outflows. We present the first simulations of radiation-dust driven outflows in stratified, inhomogeneous media, including explicit grain dynamics and a realistic spectrum of grain sizes and charge, magnetic fields and Lorentz forces on grains (which dramatically enhance the RDIs), Coulomb and Epstein drag forces, and explicit radiation transport allowing for different grain absorption and scattering properties. In this paper, we consider conditions resembling giant molecular clouds (GMCs), H  ii regions, and distributed starbursts, where optical depths are modest (≲1), single-scattering effects dominate radiation-dust coupling, Lorentz forces dominate over drag on grains, and the fastest-growing RDIs are similar, such as magnetosonic and fast-gyro RDIs. These RDIs generically produce strong size-dependent dust clustering, growing non-linear on time-scales that are much shorter than the characteristic times of the outflow. The instabilities produce filamentary and plume-like or 'horsehead' nebular morphologies that are remarkably similar to observed dust structures in GMCs and H  ii regions. Additionally, in some cases they strongly alter the magnetic field structure and topology relative to filaments. Despite driving strong micro-scale dust clumping which leaves some gas 'behind,' an order-unity fraction of the gas is always efficiently entrained by dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dusty cool-star outflow or ejection events around asymptotic giant branch (AGB) or R Coronae Borealis or RCB-like stars, dust is accelerated by radiation from the star and coupled to the gas via collisional drag forces. It has recently been shown that such dust-gas mixtures are unstable to a super-class of instabilities called the resonant drag instabilities (RDIs), which promote dust clustering. We therefore consider idealized simulations of the RDIs operating on a spectrum of dust grain sizes subject to radiative acceleration (allowing for different grain optical properties), coupled to the gas with a realistic drag law, including or excluding the effects of magnetic fields and charged grains, and calculate for the first time how the RDIs could contribute to observed variability. We show that the RDIs naturally produce significant variations (spatially and temporally) (⁠|$\sim 10\!-\!20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| 1 σ-level) in the extinction, corresponding to |$\sim 0.1\!-\!1\,$| mag level in the stellar types above, on time-scales of order months to a year. The fluctuations are surprisingly robust to the assumed size of the source as they are dominated by large-scale modes, which also means their spatial structure could be resolved in some nearby systems. We also quantify how this produces variations in the line-of-sight grain size-distribution. All of these variations are similar to those observed, suggesting that the RDIs may play a key role driving observed spatial and temporal variability in dust extinction within dusty outflow/ejection events around cool stars. We further propose that the measured variations in grain sizes could directly be used to identify the presence of the RDIs in close by systems with observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OSIRIS-REx mission collected a sample from the surface of the asteroid (101955) Bennu in 2020 October. Here, we study the impact of the OSIRIS-REx Touch-and-Go Sampling Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) interacting with the surface of an asteroid in the framework of granular physics. Traditional approaches to estimating the penetration depth of a projectile into a granular medium include force laws and scaling relationships formulated from laboratory experiments in terrestrial-gravity conditions. However, it is unclear that these formulations extend to the OSIRIS-REx scenario of a 1300-kg spacecraft interacting with regolith in a microgravity environment. We studied the TAGSAM interaction with Bennu through numerical simulations using two collisional codes, pkdgrav and gdc-i. We validated their accuracy by reproducing the results of laboratory impact experiments in terrestrial gravity. We then performed TAGSAM penetration simulations varying the following geotechnical properties of the regolith: packing fraction (P), bulk density, inter-particle cohesion (σ c), and angle of friction (ϕ). We find that the outcome of a spacecraft-regolith impact has a non-linear dependence on packing fraction. Closely packed regolith (P ≳ 0.6) can effectively resist the penetration of TAGSAM if ϕ ≳ 28° and/or σ c ≳ 50 Pa. For loosely packed regolith (P ≲ 0.5), the penetration depth is governed by a drag force that scales with impact velocity to the 4/3 power, consistent with energy conservation. We discuss the importance of low-speed impact studies for predicting and interpreting spacecraft–surface interactions. We show that these low-energy events also provide a framework for interpreting the burial depths of large boulders in asteroidal regolith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models have the potential to solve the small-scale problems that arise in the cold dark matter paradigm. Simulations are a powerful tool for studying SIDM in the context of astrophysics, but it is numerically challenging to study differential cross-sections that favour small-angle scattering (as in light-mediator models). Here, we present a novel approach to model frequent scattering based on an effective drag force, which we have implemented into the N -body code gadget-3. In a range of test problems, we demonstrate that our implementation accurately models frequent scattering. Our implementation can be used to study differences between SIDM models that predict rare and frequent scattering. We simulate core formation in isolated dark matter haloes, as well as major mergers of galaxy clusters and find that SIDM models with rare and frequent interactions make different predictions. In particular, frequent interactions are able to produce larger offsets between the distribution of galaxies and dark matter in equal-mass mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent observations have shown that circumbinary discs can be misaligned with respect to the binary orbital plane. The lack of spherical symmetry, together with the non-planar geometry of these systems, causes differential precession which might induce the propagation of warps. While gas dynamics in such environments is well understood, little is known about dusty discs. In this work, we analytically study the problem of dust traps formation in misaligned circumbinary discs. We find that pile-ups may be induced not by pressure maxima, as the usual dust traps, but by a difference in precession rates between the gas and dust. Indeed, this difference makes the radial drift inefficient in two locations, leading to the formation of two dust rings whose position depends on the system parameters. This phenomenon is likely to occur to marginally coupled dust particles (St ≳ 1) as both the effect of gravitational and drag force are considerable. We then perform a suite of 3D Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) numerical simulations to compare the results with our theoretical predictions. We explore the parameter space, varying stellar mass ratio, disc thickness, radial extension, and we find a general agreement with the analytical expectations. Such dust pile-up prevents radial drift, fosters dust growth and may thus promote the planet formation in circumbinary discs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the flourishing number of small body missions that involve surface interactions, understanding the mechanics of spacecraft – surface interactions is crucial for improving our knowledge about the landing phases of space missions, for preparing spacecraft operations, and for interpreting the results of measurements made during the surface interactions. Given their regolith-covered surfaces, the process of landing on a small body can be considered as an impact at low-velocity on to a granular material in reduced-gravity. In order to study the influence of the surface material, projectile shape, and gravity on the collision dynamics, we used two experimental configurations (one for terrestrial gravity experiments and one for reduced-gravity experiments) to perform low-velocity collisions into different types of granular materials: quartz sand, and two different sizes of glass beads (1.5 and 5 mm diameter). Both a spherical and a cubic projectile (with varying impact orientation) were used. The experimental data support a drag model for the impact dynamics composed of both a hydrodynamic drag force and quasi-static resistance force. The hydrodynamic and quasi-static contributions are related to the material frictional properties, the projectile geometry, and the gravity. The transition from a quasi-static to a hydrodynamical regime is shown to occur at lower impact velocities in reduced-gravity trials than in terrestrial gravity trials, indicating that regolith has a more fluid-like behaviour in low-gravity. The reduced quasi-static regime of a granular material under low-gravity conditions leads to a reduction in the strength, resulting in a decreased resistance to penetration and larger penetration depths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comets are constantly interacting with the solar wind. When the comet activity is high enough, this leads to the creation of a magnetic field free region around the nucleus known as the diamagnetic cavity. It has been suggested that the ion-neutral drag force is balancing the magnetic pressure at the cavity boundary, but after the visit of Rosetta to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko the coupling between ions and neutrals inside the cavity has been debated, at least for moderately active comets. In this study, we use data from the ion composition analyser to determine the bulk speeds and temperatures of the low-energy ions in the diamagnetic cavity of comet 67P. The low-energy ions are affected by the negative spacecraft potential, and we use the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software to model the resulting influence on the detected energy spectra. We find bulk speeds of 5–10 km s−1 with a most probable speed of 7 km s−1, significantly above the velocity of the neutral particles. This indicates that the collisional coupling between ions and neutrals is not strong enough to keep the ions at the same speed as the neutrals inside the cavity. The temperatures are in the range 0.7–1.6 eV, with a peak probability at 1.0 eV. We attribute the major part of the temperature to the fact that ions are born at different locations in the coma, and hence are accelerated over different distances before reaching the spacecraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a model for the interaction between dust and radiation fields in the radiation hydrodynamic code arepo-rt , which solves the moment-based radiative transfer equations on an unstructured moving mesh. Dust is directly treated using live simulation particles, each of which represent a population of grains that are coupled to hydrodynamic motion through a drag force. We introduce methods to calculate radiation pressure on and photon absorption by dust grains. By including a direct treatment of dust, we are able to calculate dust opacities and update radiation fields self-consistently based on the local dust distribution. This hybrid scheme coupling dust particles to an unstructured mesh for radiation is validated using several test problems with known analytic solutions, including dust driven via spherically symmetric flux from a constant luminosity source and photon absorption from radiation incident on a thin layer of dust. Our methods are compatible with the multifrequency scheme in arepo-rt , which treats UV, optical photons as single scattered and IR photons as multi scattered. At IR wavelengths, we model heating of and thermal emission from dust. Dust and gas are not assumed to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium but transfer energy through collisional exchange. We estimate dust temperatures by balancing these dust-radiation and dust-gas energy exchange rates. This framework for coupling dust and radiation can be applied in future radiation hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop simple, physically motivated models for drag-induced dust–gas streaming instabilities, which are thought to be crucial for clumping grains to form planetesimals in protoplanetary discs. The models explain, based on the physics of gaseous epicyclic motion and dust–gas drag forces, the most important features of the streaming instability and its simple generalization, the disc settling instability. Some of the key properties explained by our models include the sudden change in the growth rate of the streaming instability when the dust-to-gas mass ratio surpasses one, the slow growth rate of the streaming instability compared to the settling instability for smaller grains, and the main physical processes underlying the growth of the most unstable modes in different regimes. As well as providing helpful simplified pictures for understanding the operation of an interesting and fundamental astrophysical fluid instability, our models may prove useful for analysing simulations and developing non-linear theories of planetesimal growth in discs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a fix to the overdamping problem found by Laibe & Price when simulating strongly coupled dust–gas mixtures using two different sets of particles using smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Our solution is to compute the drag at the barycentre between gas and dust particle pairs when computing the drag force by reconstructing the velocity field, similar to the procedure in Godunov-type solvers. This fixes the overdamping problem at negligible computational cost, but with additional memory required to store velocity derivatives. We employ slope limiters to avoid spurious oscillations at shocks, finding the van Leer Monotonized Central limiter most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coalescence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) should generate the strongest sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the Universe. However, the dynamics of their coalescence is the subject of much debate. In this study, we use a suite of N -body simulations to follow the merger of two nuclear star clusters (NSCs), each hosting an SMBH in their centre. We find that the presence of distinct star clusters around each SMBH has important consequences for the dynamical evolution of the SMBH binary: (i) The separation between the SMBHs decreases by a few orders of magnitude in the first few Myrs by the combined effects of dynamical friction and a drag force caused by tidally stripped stars. In fact, this is a significant speedup for equal mass ratio binaries, and becomes extreme for unequal mass ratios, e.g. 1:10 or 1:100, which traditional dynamical friction alone would not permit to bind. (ii) The subsequent binary hardening is driven by the gravitational slingshots between the SMBH binary and stars, and also depends on the mass ratio between the SMBHs. Thus, with this additional drag force, we find that all SMBHs in our suite coalesce within a Hubble time. Given that about 50 per cent of Milky Way-sized galaxies host NSCs, our results are encouraging for upcoming GW observations with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna – LISA – which will detect SMBH coalescence in the 104–107 M⊙ mass range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compute the forces, torque, and rate of work on the companion-core binary due to drag in global simulations of common envelope (CE) evolution for three different companion masses. Our simulations help to delineate regimes when conventional analytic drag force approximations are applicable. During and just prior to the first periastron passage of the in-spiral phase, the drag force is reasonably approximated by conventional analytic theory and peaks at values proportional to the companion mass. Good agreement between global and local 3D 'wind tunnel' simulations, including similar net drag force and flow pattern, is obtained for comparable regions of parameter space. However, subsequent to the first periastron passage, the drag force is up to an order of magnitude smaller than theoretical predictions, quasi-steady, and depends only weakly on companion mass. The discrepancy is exacerbated for larger companion mass and when the inter-particle separation reduces to the Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion radius, creating a turbulent thermalized region. Greater flow symmetry during this phase leads to near balance of opposing gravitational forces in front of and behind the companion, hence a small net drag. The reduced drag force at late times helps explain why companion-core separations necessary for envelope ejection are not reached by the end of limited duration CE simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of planets, stars, and even galaxies is driven, to a large extent, by dynamical friction of gravitational origin. There is now a good understanding of the friction produced by extended media, either collisionless or fluid-like. However, the physics of accretion or protoplanetary discs, for instance, is described by slab-like geometries instead, compact in one spatial direction. Here, we find, for the first time, the gravitational wake due to a massive perturber moving through a slab-like medium, describing e.g. accretion discs with sharp transitions. We show that dynamical friction in such environments can be substantially reduced relatively to spatially extended profiles. Finally, we provide simple and accurate expressions for the gravitational drag force felt by the perturber, in both the subsonic and supersonic regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent observations of protoplanetary discs reveal disc substructures potentially caused by embedded planets. We investigate how the gas surface density in discs changes the observed morphology in scattered light and dust continuum emission. Assuming that disc substructures are due to embedded protoplanets, we combine hydrodynamical modelling with radiative transfer simulations of dusty protoplanetary discs hosting planets. The response of different dust species to the gravitational perturbation induced by a planet depends on the drag stopping time – a function of the generally unknown local gas density. Small dust grains, being stuck to the gas, show spirals. Larger grains decouple, showing progressively more axisymmetric (ring-like) substructure as decoupling increases with grain size or with the inverse of the gas disc mass. We show that simultaneous modelling of scattered light and dust continuum emission is able to constrain the Stokes number, St. Hence, if the dust properties are known, this constrains the local gas surface density, Σgas, at the location of the structure, and hence the total gas mass. In particular, we found that observing ring-like structures in mm-emitting grains requires St ≳ 0.4 and therefore |$\Sigma _{\rm gas} \lesssim 0.4\, \rm {g\,cm}^{-2}$|⁠. We apply this idea to observed protoplanetary discs showing substructures both in scattered light and in the dust continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate 3D relativistic trajectories of test particles in the spacetime of a slowly rotating compact star, under the combined influence of gravity and a strong, near-Eddington radiation field. While in the static case a spherically symmetric shell of matter suspended above the stellar surface can be formed at the location of radial equilibrium of effective forces, the same is not true for a rotating star. In the latter case the symmetry is broken by the interplay between motion in the non-static spacetime and the influence of strong radiation drag forces, pushing particles towards the equatorial plane. As a result an expanding spherical shell of matter ejected from the neutron star surface collapses on a short time-scale into a single stable equatorial ring supported by radiation. These findings have implications for the geometry of optically thin outflows during luminous neutron star bursts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In protoplanetary discs (PPDs) consisting of gas and dust particles, fluid instabilities induced by the drag force, including secular gravitational instability (SGI), can facilitate planet formation. Although SGI subject to the axisymmetric perturbations was originally studied in the absence of gas feedback and it then generalized using a two-fluid approach, the fate of the non-axisymmetric SGI, in either case, is an unexplored problem. We present a linear perturbation analysis of the non-axisymmetric SGI in a PPD by implementing a two-fluid model. We explore the growth of the local, non-axisymmetric perturbations using a set of linearized perturbation equations in a sheared frame. The non-axisymmetric perturbations display a significant growth during a finite time interval even when the system is stable against the axisymmetric perturbations. Furthermore, the surface density perturbations do not show the continuous growth but are temporally amplified. We also study cases where the dust component undergoes amplification whereas the gas component remains stable. The amplitude amplification, however, strongly depends on the model parameters. In the minimum mass solar nebula (MMSN), for instance, the dust fluid amplification at the radial distance 100 au occurs when the Stokes number is about unity. But the amplification factor reduces as the dust and gas coupling becomes weaker. Furthermore, perturbations with a larger azimuthal wavelength exhibit a larger amplification factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamics of slender magnetic flux tubes (MFTs) in the accretion discs of T Tauri stars is investigated. We perform simulations taking into account buoyant, aerodynamic, and turbulent drag forces, radiative heat exchange between MFT and ambient gas, and magnetic field of the disc. The equations of MFT dynamics are solved using Runge–Kutta method of the fourth order. The simulations show that there are two regimes of MFT motion in absence of external magnetic field. In the region r < 0.2 au, the MFTs of radii |$0.05 \le a_0 \le 0.16\, H$| (H is the scale height of the disc) with initial plasma beta of 1 experience thermal oscillations above the disc. The oscillations decay over some time, and MFTs continue upward motion afterwards. Thinner or thicker MFTs do not oscillate. MFT velocity increases with initial radius and magnetic field strength. MFTs rise periodically with velocities up to 5–15 km s−1 and periods of 0.5–10 yr determined by the toroidal magnetic field generation time. Approximately 20 per cent of disc mass and magnetic flux can escape to disc atmosphere via the magnetic buoyancy over characteristic time of disc evolution. MFTs dispersal forms expanding magnetized corona of the disc. External magnetic field causes MFT oscillations near the disc surface. These magnetic oscillations have periods from several days to 1–3 months at r < 0.6 au. The magnetic oscillations decay over few periods. We simulate MFT dynamics in accretion discs in the Chameleon I cluster. The simulations demonstrate that MFT oscillations can produce observed IR-variability of T Tauri stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the local dust-to-gas ratio in protoplanetary discs is a necessary first step to planetesimal formation. In laminar discs, dust settling is an efficient mechanism to raise the dust-to-gas ratio at the disc mid-plane. However, turbulence, if present, can stir and lift dust particles, which ultimately hinders planetesimal formation. In this work, we study dust settling in protoplanetary discs with hydrodynamic turbulence sustained by the vertical shear instability. We perform axisymmetric numerical simulations to investigate the effect of turbulence, particle size, and solid abundance or metallicity on dust settling. We highlight the positive role of drag forces exerted on to the gas by the dust for settling to overcome the vertical shear instability. In typical disc models we find particles with a Stokes number ∼10−3 can sediment to ≲ 10 per cent of the gas scaleheight, provided that Σd/Σg ≳ 0.02–0.05, where Σd,g are the surface densities in dust and gas, respectively. This coincides with the metallicity condition for small particles to undergo clumping via the streaming instability. Supersolar metallicities, at least locally, are thus required for a self-consistent picture of planetesimal formation. Our results also imply that dust rings observed in protoplanetary discs should have smaller scaleheights than dust gaps, provided that the metallicity contrast between rings and gaps exceed the corresponding contrast in gas density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate, for the first time, the non-linear evolution of the magnetized 'resonant drag instabilities' (RDIs). We explore magnetohydrodynamic simulations of gas mixed with (uniform) dust grains subject to Lorentz and drag forces, using the gizmo code. The magnetized RDIs exhibit fundamentally different behaviour than purely acoustic RDIs. The dust organizes into coherent structures and the system exhibits strong dust–gas separation. In the linear and early non-linear regime, the growth rates agree with linear theory and the dust self-organizes into 2D planes or 'sheets.' Eventually the gas develops fully non-linear, saturated Alfvénic, and compressible fast-mode turbulence, which fills the underdense regions with a small amount of dust, and drives a dynamo that saturates at equipartition of kinetic and magnetic energy. The dust density fluctuations exhibit significant non-Gaussianity, and the power spectrum is strongly weighted towards the largest (box scale) modes. The saturation level can be understood via quasi-linear theory, as the forcing and energy input via the instabilities become comparable to saturated tension forces and dissipation in turbulence. The magnetized simulation presented here is just one case; it is likely that the magnetic RDIs can take many forms in different parts of parameter space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a drag force model for evolving chaotic few-body interactions with the inclusion of orbital energy losses, such as tidal dissipation and gravitational wave (GW) emission. The main effect from such losses is the formation of two-body captures that for compact objects result in GW mergers and for stars lead to either compact binaries, mergers, or disruptions. Studying the inclusion of energy loss terms in few-body interactions is therefore likely to be important for modelling and understanding the variety of transients that soon will be observed by current and upcoming surveys. However, including especially tides in few-body codes has been shown to be technically difficult and computationally heavy, which has led to very few systematic tidal studies. In this paper we derive a drag force term that can be used to model the effects from tidal, as well as other energy losses in few-body interactions, if the two-body orbit averaged energy loss is known a priori. This drag force model is very fast to evolve and gives results in agreement with other approaches, including the impulsive and affine tide approximations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of radiation pressure on spatial dust distribution inside HII regions using one-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations, which include absorption and reemission of photons by dust. In order to investigate grain-size effects as well, we introduce two additional fluid components describing large and small dust grains in the simulations. Relative velocity between dust and gas strongly depends on the drag force.We include collisional drag force and coulomb drag force. We find that, in a compact HII region, a dust cavity region is formed by radiation pressure. Resulting dust cavity sizes (~0.2 pc) agree with observational estimates reasonably well. Since dust inside an HII region is strongly charged, relative velocity between dust and gas is mainly determined by the coulomb drag force. Strength of the coulomb drag force is about 2 order of magnitude larger than that of the collisional drag force. In addition, in a cloud of mass 105 M⨀, we find that the radiation pressure changes the grain-size distribution insideHII regions. Since large (0.1 μm) dust grains are accelerated more efficiently than small (0.01 μm) grains, the large-to-small grain mass ratio becomes smaller by an order of magnitude compared with the initial one. Resulting dust-size distributions depend on the luminosity of the radiation source. The large and small grain segregation becomes weaker when we assume stronger radiation source, since dust grain charges become larger under stronger radiation and hence coulomb drag force becomes stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the dynamical evolution of the putative gas clouds G1 and G2 recently discovered in the Galactic Centre. Following earlier studies suggesting that these two clouds are part of a larger gas streamer, we combine their orbits into a single trajectory. Since the gas clouds experience a drag force from background gas, this trajectory is not exactlyKeplerian. Assuming the G1 and G2 clouds trace this trajectory, we fit for the drag force they experience and thus extract information about the accretion flow at a distance of thousands of Schwarzschild radii from the black hole. This range of radii is important for theories of black hole accretion, but is currently unconstrained by observations. In this paper, we extend our previous work by accounting for radial forces due to possible inflow or outflow of the background gas. Such radial forces drive precession in the orbital plane, allowing a slightly better fit to the G1 and G2 data. This precession delays the pericentre passage of G2 by 4-5 months relative to estimates derived from a Keplerian orbital fit; if it proves possible to identify the pericentre time observationally, this enables an immediate test of whether G1 and G2 are gas clouds part of a larger gas streamer. If G2 is indeed a gas cloud, its closest approach likely occurred in late summer 2014, after many of the observing campaigns monitoring G2's anticipated pericentre passage ended. We discuss how this affects interpretation of the G2 observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we determine the effect of radiation pressure, Poynting–Robertson drag and solar wind drag on the Sun–(Earth–Moon) restricted three-body problem. Here, we take the larger body of the Sun as a larger primary, and the Earth+Moon as a smaller primary. With the help of the perturbation technique, we find the Lagrangian points, and see that the collinear points deviate from the axis joining the primaries, whereas the triangular points remain unchanged in their configuration. We also find that Lagrangian points move towards the Sun when radiation pressure increases. We have also analysed the stability of the triangular equilibrium points and have found that they are unstable because of the drag forces. Moreover, we have computed the halo orbits in the third-order approximation using the Lindstedt–Poincaré method and have found the effect of the drag forces. According to this prevalence, the Sun–(Earth–Moon) model is used to design the trajectory for spacecraft travelling under drag forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to avoid the explicit time integration of small dust grains in the two-fluid gas/dust smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach is proposed. By assuming a very simple exponential decay model for the relative velocity between the gas and dust components, all the effective characteristics of the drag force can be reproduced. A series of tests has been performed to compare the accuracy of the method with analytical and explicit integration results. We find that the method performs well on a wide range of tests, and can provide large speed-ups over explicit integration when the dust stopping time is small. We have also found that the method is much less dissipative than conventional explicit or implicit two-fluid SPH approaches when modelling dusty shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]