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The effects of cosmic ray (CR) diffusion and finite Larmor radius (FLR) corrections have been studied on the linear gravitational instability of thermally conducting plasmas typically in the H ii regions of molecular clouds. The hydrodynamic fluid–fluid approach is considered for interacting CRs with gravitating, magnetized, and thermally conducting gas in molecular clouds. The magnetohydrodynamic fluid model is formulated considering CR pressure gradients, CR diffusion, and radiative and FLR effects in terms of particle Larmor radius. The dispersion relation of the gravitational instability is analytically derived using the normal mode analysis, and the effects of CRs and FLR corrections have been discussed in longitudinal and transverse modes. It is observed that in the absence of CRs, the FLR effects (magnetic viscosity) reduce the growth rate for wavenumber smaller than a critical value, and above it gets increased. However, the growth rate is strongly suppressed in the presence of combined CRs and FLR effects. The individual behaviour of FLR effects is observed to destabilize the growth rate of the gravitational instability in the presence of CR effects. The CR pressure decreases the growth rates of the gravitational and thermal instabilities, whereas parallel CR diffusion enhances the growth rate of the gravitational instability. The Jeans length of the gravitating gas cloud gets increased due to an increase in the CR-to-gas pressure ratio. It is found that the gravitational collapse of the system is supported by high-energy (above knee) CR particles with the Larmor radii comparable to the cloud size. The present results have been applied to understand the role of CRs and FLR corrections on the gravitational collapse in the H ii regions of molecular clouds.

To find out precise criteria of double-ring structure formation in galaxies, we have studied the problem of gravitational instability of the corresponding structure oscillation modes in the background of a previously described compound disk model [1, 2, 3] with an exact nonlinear law of nonstationarity. Nonstationary analogs have been derived for the dispersion equations for these structure oscillation modes of the model, and the results of their analysis are discussed. A comparative analysis has been carried out for the instability increments of ringlike oscillation modes, aimed at determining the dependence of their characteristic manifestation times on the physical parameters of the model.

The noteworthy four-planet HR 8799 system teeters on the brink of gravitational instability and contains an A-type host star which is characteristic of the progenitors of the majority of known white dwarf planetary system hosts. Gozdziewski and Migaszewski (2020) have demonstrated that the system can retain all four planets for at least 1 Gyr along the main sequence if the planets evolve within an externally unperturbed 8:4:2:1 mean motion resonance configuration. Here we propagate forward their most stable fit beyond the main sequence, and incorporate external effects from Galactic tides and stellar flybys. We find that (i) giant branch mass loss always breaks the resonance, and usually triggers the ejection of two of the planets, (ii) stellar flybys and Galactic tides rarely break the resonance during the main-sequence and giant branch phases, but play a crucial role in determining the final planetary configurations around the eventual white dwarf host star, and (iii) the meanderings of the surviving planets vary significantly, occupying regions from under 1 au to thousands of au. The ubiquitous survival of at least one planet and the presence of the debris discs in the system should allow for dynamical pathways for the white dwarf to be metal-polluted., Accepted for publication in MNRAS

It is likely that young protostellar disks undergo a self-gravitating phase. Such systems are characterized by the presence of a spiral pattern that can be either in a quasi-steady state or in a nonlinear unstable condition. This spiral wave affects both the gas dynamics and kinematics, resulting in deviations from the Keplerian rotation. Recently, a lot of attention has been devoted to kinematic studies of planet-forming environments, and we are now able to measure even small perturbations of velocity field ($\lesssim 1 \%$ of the Keplerian speed) thanks to high spatial and spectral resolution observations of protostellar disks. In this work, we investigate the kinematic signatures of gravitational instability: we perform an analytical study of the linear response of a self-gravitating disk to a spiral-like perturbation, focusing our attention on the velocity field perturbations. We show that unstable disks have clear kinematic imprints into the gas component across the entire disk extent, due to the GI spiral wave perturbation, resulting in deviations from Keplerian rotation. The shape of these signatures depends on several parameters, but they are significantly affected by the cooling factor: by detecting these features, we can put constraints on protoplanetary disk cooling., Comment: Accepted for publication in APJL, 13 pages, 4 figures

Recent observations of the protoplanetary disc surrounding AB Aurigae have revealed the possible presence of two giant planets in the process of forming. The young measured age of $1-4$Myr for this system allows us to place strict time constraints on the formation histories of the observed planets. Hence we may be able to make a crucial distinction between formation through core accretion (CA) or the gravitational instability (GI), as CA formation timescales are typically Myrs whilst formation through GI will occur within the first $\approx10^4-10^5$yrs of disc evolution. We focus our analysis on the $4-13$M$_{\rm Jup}$ planet observed at $R\approx30$AU. We find CA formation timescales for such a massive planet typically exceed the system's age. The planet's high mass and wide orbit may instead be indicative of formation through GI. We use smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations to determine the system's critical disc mass for fragmentation, finding $M_{\rm d,crit}=0.3$M$_{\odot}$. Viscous evolution models of the disc's mass history indicate that it was likely massive enough to exceed $M_{\rm d,crit}$ in the recent past, thus it is possible that a young AB Aurigae disc may have fragmented to form multiple giant gaseous protoplanets. Calculations of the Jeans mass in an AB Aurigae-like disc find that fragments may initially form with masses $1.6-13.3$M$_{\rm Jup}$, consistent with the planets which have been observed. We therefore propose that the inferred planets in the disc surrounding AB Aurigae may be evidence of planet formation through GI., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

We study gravito-magnetic instabilities of a static homogeneous medium with an aligned magnetic field in the two contexts of relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): first, MHD with post-Newtonian (PN) corrections, and second, special relativistic (SR) MHD with weak gravity. The analysis in the PN MHD is made without taking the temporal gauge condition, thus results are gauge-invariant. The PN corrections of the internal energy, pressure, sound velocity and the Alfv\'en velocity lower the critical (Jeans) wavelength. {All relativistic effects tend to destabilize the system.} Although the SR MHD with weak gravity is presented in the harmonic gauge, in the presence of gravity the stability analysis is strictly valid to Newtonian order. In the absence of gravity, the SR MHD is independent of the gauge condition. We present the plane wave velocities and the stability criteria in both cases., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

Searches for young gas giant planets at wide separations have so far focused on techniques appropriate for compact (Jupiter sized) planets. Here we point out that protoplanets born through Gravitational Instability (GI) may remain in an initial pre-collapse phase for as long as the first $ 10^5-10^7$ years after formation. These objects are hundreds of times larger than Jupiter and their atmospheres are too cold ($T\sim$ tens of K) to emit in the NIR or H$\alpha$ via accretion shocks. However, it is possible that their dust emission can be detected with ALMA, even around Class I and II protoplanetary discs. In this paper we produce synthetic observations of these protoplanets. We find that making a detection in a disc at 140 parsecs would require a few hundred minutes of ALMA band 6 observation time. Protoplanets with masses of 3-5 $M_J$ have the highest chance of being detected; less massive objects require unreasonably long observation times (1000 minutes) while more massive ones collapse into giant planets before $10^5$ years. We propose that high resolution surveys of young ($10^5-10^6$ years), massive and face on discs offer the best chance for observing protoplanets. Such a detection would help to place constraints on the protoplanet mass spectrum, explain the turnover in the occurrence frequency of gas giants with system metallicity and constrain the prevalence of GI as a planet formation mechanism. Consistent lack of detection would be evidence against GI as a common planet formation mechanism., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted to MNRAS

Secular gravitational instability (GI) is one of the promising mechanisms for creating annular substructures and planetesimals in protoplanetary disks. We perform numerical simulations of the secular GI in a radially extended disk with inward drifting dust grains. The results show that, even in the presence of the dust diffusion, the dust rings form via the secular GI while the dust grains are moving inward, and the dust surface density increases by a factor of ten. Once the secular GI develops into a nonlinear regime, the total mass of the resultant rings can be a significant fraction of the dust disk mass. In this way, a large amount of drifting dust grains can be collected in the dusty rings and stored for planetesimal formation. In contrast to the emergence of remarkable dust substructures, the secular GI does not create significant gas substructures. This result indicates that observations of a gas density profile near the disk midplane enable us to distinguish the mechanisms for creating the annular substructures in the observed disks. The resultant rings start decaying once they enter the inner region stable to the secular GI. Since the ring-gap contrast smoothly decreases, it seems possible that the rings are observed even in the stable region. We also discuss the likely outcome of the non-linear growth and indicate the possibility that a significantly developed region of the secular GI may appear as a gap-like substructure in dust continuum emission since dust growth into larger solid bodies and planetesimal formation reduce the total emissivity., 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter array (ALMA) have dramatically improved our understanding of the site of exoplanet formation: protoplanetary discs. However, many basic properties of these discs are not well-understood. The most fundamental of these is the total disc mass, which sets the mass budget for planet formation. Discs with sufficiently high masses can excite gravitational instability and drive spiral arms that are detectable with ALMA . Although spirals have been detected in ALMA observations of the dust , their association with gravitational instability, and high disc masses, is far from clear. Here we report a prediction for kinematic evidence of gravitational instability. Using hydrodynamics simulations coupled with radiative transfer calculations, we show that a disc undergoing such instability has clear kinematic signatures in molecular line observations across the entire disc azimuth and radius which are independent of viewing angle. If these signatures are detected, it will provide the clearest evidence for the occurrence of gravitational instability in planet-forming discs, and provide a crucial way to measure disc masses., 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted to The Astrophysical Journal

In the early stages of a protoplanetary disk, when its mass is a significant fraction of its star's, turbulence generated by gravitational instability (GI) should feature significantly in the disk's evolution. At the same time, the disk may be sufficiently ionised for magnetic fields to play some role in the dynamics. Though usually neglected, the impact of magnetism on the GI may be critical, with consequences for several processes: the efficiency of accretion, spiral structure formation, fragmentation, and the dynamics of solids. In this paper, we report on global three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations of a self-gravitating protoplanetary disk using the meshless finite mass (MFM) Lagrangian technique. We confirm that GI spiral waves trigger a dynamo that amplifies an initial magnetic field to nearly thermal amplitudes (plasma beta < 10), an order of magnitude greater than that generated by the magneto-rotational instability alone. We also determine the dynamo's nonlinear back reaction on the gravitoturbulent flow: the saturated state is substantially hotter, with an associated larger Toomre parameter and weaker, more 'flocculent' spirals. But perhaps of greater import is the dynamo's boosting of accretion via a significant Maxwell stress; mass accretion is enhanced by factors of several relative to either pure GI or pure MRI. Our simulations use ideal MHD, an admittedly poor approximation in protoplanetary disks, and thus future studies should explore the full gamut of non-ideal MHD. In preparation for that, we exhibit a small number of Ohmic runs that reveal that the dynamo, if anything, is stronger in a non-ideal environment. This work confirms that magnetic fields are a potentially critical ingredient in gravitoturbulent young disks, possibly controlling their evolution, especially via their enhancement of (potentially episodic) accretion., Happy Chinese new year

Dark rings with bright rims are the indirect signposts of planets embedded in protoplanetary discs. In a recent first, an azimuthally elongated AU-scale blob, possibly a planet, was resolved with ALMA in TW Hya. The blob is at the edge of a cliff-like rollover in the dust disc rather than inside a dark ring. Here we build time-dependent models of TW Hya disc. We find that the classical paradigm cannot account for the morphology of the disc and the blob. We propose that ALMA-discovered blob hides a Neptune mass planet losing gas and dust. We show that radial drift of mm-sized dust particles naturally explains why the blob is located on the edge of the dust disc. Dust particles leaving the planet perform a characteristic U-turn relative to it, producing an azimuthally elongated blob-like emission feature. This scenario also explains why a 10 Myr old disc is so bright in dust continuum. Two scenarios for the dust-losing planet are presented. In the first, a dusty pre-runaway gas envelope of about 40 Earth mass Core Accretion planet is disrupted, e.g., as a result of a catastrophic encounter. In the second, a massive dusty pre-collapse gas giant planet formed by Gravitational Instability is disrupted by the energy released in its massive core. Future modelling may discriminate between these scenarios and allow us to study planet formation in an entirely new way -- by analysing the flows of dust and gas recently belonging to planets, informing us about the structure of pre-disruption planetary envelopes., Comment: Typos fixed, references and author list updated

We investigate how a protoplanetary disc's susceptibility to gravitational instabilities and fragmentation depends on the mass of its host star. We use 1D disc models in conjunction with 3D SPH simulations to determine the critical disc-to-star mass ratios at which discs become unstable against fragmentation, finding that discs become increasingly prone to the effects of self-gravity as we increase the host star mass. The actual limit for stability is sensitive to the disc temperature, so if the disc is optically thin stellar irradiation can dramatically stabilise discs against gravitational instability. However, even when this is the case we find that discs around $2$M$_{\odot}$ stars are prone to fragmentation, which will act to produce wide-orbit giant planets and brown dwarfs. The consequences of this work are two-fold: that low mass stars could in principle support high disc-to-star mass ratios, and that higher mass stars have discs that are more prone to fragmentation, which is qualitatively consistent with observations that favour high-mass wide-orbit planets around higher mass stars. We also find that the initial masses of these planets depends on the temperature in the disc at large radii, which itself depends on the level of stellar irradiation., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the first detection of the 13C17O J=3-2 transition toward the HL Tau protoplanetary disc. We find significantly more gas mass (at least a factor of ten higher) than has been previously reported using C18O emission. This brings the observed total disc mass to 0.2 M, which we consider to be a conservative lower limit. Our analysis of the Toomre Q profile suggests that this brings the disc into the regime of gravitational instability. The radial region of instability (50-110 au) coincides with the location of a proposed planet-carved gap in the dust disc and a spiral in the gas. We, therefore, propose that if the origin of the gap is confirmed to be due to a forming giant planet, then it is likely to have formed via the gravitational fragmentation of the protoplanetary disc., Accepted 2020 January 21. Received 2020 January 21; in original form 2019 November 27

Aims and Methods. Accretion bursts triggered by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the innermost disk regions were studied for protoplanetary gas-dust disks formed from prestellar cores of various mass $M_{\rm core}$ and mass-to-magnetic flux ratio $\lambda$. Numerical magnetohydrodynamics simulations in the thin-disk limit were employed to study the long-term ($\sim 1.0$~Myr) evolution of protoplanetary disks with an adaptive turbulent $\alpha$-parameter, which depends explicitly on the strength of the magnetic field and ionization fraction in the disk. The numerical models also feature the co-evolution of gas and dust, including the back-reaction of dust on gas and dust growth. Results. Dead zone with a low ionization fraction $x, Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

In this article, we proceed to study convection as a possible factor of episodic accretion in protoplanetary disks. Within the model presented in Article~I, the accretion history is analyzed at different rates and areas of matter inflow from the envelope onto the disk. It is shown that the burst-like regime occurs in a wide range of parameters. The long-term evolution of the disk is also modeled, including the decreasing-with-time matter inflow from the envelope. It is demonstrated that the disk becomes convectively unstable and maintains burst-like accretion onto the star for several million years. Meanwhile, the instability expands to an area of several tens of astronomical units and gradually decreases with time. It is also shown that at early stages in the disk evolution, conditions arise for gravitational instability in the outer parts of the disk and for dust evaporation in the convectively unstable inner regions. The general conclusion of the study is that convection can serve as one of the mechanisms of episodic accretion in protostellar disks, but this conclusion needs to be verified using more consistent hydrodynamic models.

Recent observations have found a 1700 km/s star [S5-HVS1] that was ejected from the Galactic Center approximately five million years ago. This star was likely produced by tidal disruption of a binary. In particular, the Galactic Center contains a few million year old stellar disk that could excite binaries to nearly radial orbits via a secular gravitational instability. Such binaries would be disrupted by the central supermassive black hole, and would also explain the observed cluster of B stars ~0.01 pc from the Galactic Center. In this paper we predict S5-HVS1 is part of a larger stream, and use observationally motivated N-body simulations to predict its spatial and velocity distribution., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to ApJ (Main Journal). Version 2 includes corrections to Figure 1 described in an erratum (Aleksey Generozov 2021 ApJ 906 136)

Gravitational instability (GI) controls the dynamics of young massive protoplanetary discs. Apart from facilitating gas accretion on to the central protostar, it must also impact on the process of planet formation: directly through fragmentation, and indirectly through the turbulent concentration of small solids. To understand the latter process, it is essential to determine the dust dynamics in such a turbulent flow. For that purpose, we conduct a series of 3D shearing box simulations of coupled gas and dust, including the gas's self-gravity and scanning a range of Stokes numbers, from 0.001 to ~0.2. First, we show that the vertical settling of dust in the midplane is significantly impeded by gravitoturbulence, with the dust scale-height roughly 0.6 times the gas scale height for centimetre grains. This is a result of the strong vertical diffusion issuing from (a) small-scale inertial-wave turbulence feeding off the GI spiral waves and (b) the larger-scale vertical circulations that naturally accompany the spirals. Second, we show that at R=50 AU concentration events involving sub-metre particles and yielding order 1 dust to gas ratios are rare and last for less than an orbit. Moreover, dust concentration is less efficient in 3D than in 2D simulations. We conclude that GI is not especially prone to the turbulent accumulation of dust grains. Finally, the large dust scale-height measured in simulations could be, in the future, compared with that of edge-on discs seen by ALMA, thus aiding detection and characterisation of GI in real systems., Comment: Accepted in MNRAS, 13 pages

We examine a modification of Newton’s gravity by a distribution of cosmological wormholes. We show that at very large distances cosmological wormholes generate corrections which may be interpreted as if gravitons acquired effective masses. We show how the mass spectrum relates to the mean parameters of wormholes. In the leading approximation, the first effective mass is imaginary, which indicates the presence of an additional gravitational instability in the early Universe.

Observations of prestellar cores in star-forming filaments show two distinct morphologies. While molecular line measurements often show broad cores, submillimeter continuum observations predominantly display pinched cores compared to the bulk of the filament gas. In order to explain how different morphologies arise, we use the gravitational instability model where prestellar cores form by growing density perturbations. The radial extent at each position is set by the local line-mass. We show that the ratio of core radius to filament radius is determined by the initial line-mass of the filament. Additionally, the core morphology is independent of perturbation length scale and inclination, which makes it an ideal diagnostic for observations. Filaments with a line-mass of less than half its critical value should form broad cores, whereas filaments with more than half its critical line-mass value should form pinched cores. For filaments embedded in a constant background pressure, the dominant perturbation growth times significantly differ for low and high line-mass filaments. Therefore, we predict that only one population of cores is present if all filaments within a region begin with similar initial perturbations.

We examine the dependence between hydrogen total mass $M_{HI}$ and rotation speed $V_{rot}$, optical size $D_{25}$ or disc radial scale $R_0$ for two samples of late-type galaxies: a) isolated galaxy (AMIGA sample), and b) the edge-on galaxies (flat galaxies of Karachentsev et al. 1999). Estimates of $M_{HI}$, given in the HYPERLEDA database for flat galaxies appear to be on average higher at $\sim $0.2 dex, than for isolated galaxies with similar $V_{rot}$ or $D_{25}$ values, most probably, due to the overvaluation of self-absorption in the HI line. We confirm that the hydrogen mass for both samples closely correlates with galactic disc integral specific angular momentum $J$, which is proportional to $V_{rot}D_{25}$ or $V_{rot}R_0$, with low surface brightness galaxies lie along a common $V_{rot}R_0$ sequence. This relationship can be explained, assuming that gas mass in the disc is regulated by marginal gravitational stability condition of gas layer. A comparison of the observed and theoretically expected dependences leads to a conclusion that either gravitational stability corresponds to higher values of Toomre parameter than is usually assumed, or the threshold stability condition for most galaxies took place only in the past, when gas mass in discs was 2-4 times higher than at present (with the exception of galaxies with abnormally high $HI$ content). The last condition requires that the gas accretion was not compensated by gas consumption during the evolution of most of galaxies., Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, This is a slightly shortened version of the paper, accepted in Astronomy Letters

A fraction of dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster contain disk features like bars and spiral arms. Using $N$-body simulations, we investigate the effects of tidal forces on the formation of such disk features in disk dwarf galaxies resembling VCC856. We consider 8 Cluster-Galaxy models in which disk dwarf galaxies with differing pericenter distance and spin orientation experience the tidal gravitational force of a Virgo-like NFW halo, and additional 8 Galaxy-Galaxy models in which two dwarf galaxies undergo tidal interactions with different strength. We find that the cluster tidal effect is moderate due to the small galaxy size, making the bars form earlier by $\sim1$--$1.5\Gyr$ compared to the cases in isolation. While the galactic halos significantly lose their mass within the virial radius due to the cluster tidal force, the mass of the stellar disks is nearly unchanged, suggesting that the inner regions of a disk-halo system is secured from the tidal force. The tidal forcing from either the cluster potential or a companion galaxy triggers the formation of two-armed spirals at early time before a bar develops. The tidally-driven arms decay and wind with time, suggesting that they are kinematic density waves. In terms of the strength and pitch angle, the faint arms in VCC856 are best matched with the arms in a marginally unstable galaxy produced by a distant tidal encounter with its neighbor $\sim0.85\Gyr$ ago., Accepted for publication in the ApJ

Recent ALMA observations may indicate a surprising abundance of sub-Jovian planets on very wide orbits in protoplanetary discs that are only a few million years old. These planets are too young and distant to have been formed via the Core Accretion (CA) scenario, and are much less massive than the gas clumps born in the classical Gravitational Instability (GI) theory. It was recently suggested that such planets may form by the partial destruction of GI protoplanets: energy output due to the growth of a massive core may unbind all or most of the surrounding pre-collapse protoplanet. Here we present the first 3D global disc simulations that simultaneously resolve grain dynamics in the disc and within the protoplanet. We confirm that massive GI protoplanets may self-destruct at arbitrarily large separations from the host star provided that solid cores of mass around 10-20 Earth masses are able to grow inside them during their pre-collapse phase. In addition, we find that the heating force recently analysed by Masset and Velasco Romero (2017) perturbs these cores away from the centre of their gaseous protoplanets. This leads to very complicated dust dynamics in the protoplanet centre, potentially resulting in the formation of multiple cores, planetary satellites, and other debris such as planetesimals within the same protoplanet. A unique prediction of this planet formation scenario is the presence of sub-Jovian planets at wide orbits in Class 0/I protoplanetary discs., Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The standard model for the formation of structure assumes that there existed small fluctuations in the early universe that grew due to gravitational instability. The origins of these fluctuations are as yet unclear. In this work we propose the role of dark matter in providing the seed for star formation in the early universe. Very recent observations also support the role of dark matter in the formation of these first stars. With this we set observable constraints on luminosities, temperatures, and lifetimes of these early stars with an admixture of dark matter., 16 pages, 5 figures, To appear as Astrophysics and Space Science (2019) 364:24

We analyze the intrinsic velocity dispersion properties of 648 star-forming galaxies observed by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, to explore the relation of intrinsic gas velocity dispersions with star formation rates (SFRs), SFR surface densities ($\rm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$), stellar masses and stellar mass surface densities ($\rm{\Sigma_{*}}$). By combining with high z galaxies, we found that there is a good correlation between the velocity dispersion and the SFR as well as $\rm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$. But the correlation between the velocity dispersion and the stellar mass as well as $\rm{\Sigma_{*}}$ is moderate. By comparing our results with predictions of theoretical models, we found that the energy feedback from star formation processes alone and the gravitational instability alone can not fully explain simultaneously the observed velocity-dispersion/SFR and velocity-dispersion/$\rm{\Sigma_{SFR}}$ relationships., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The central region of a circumstellar disk is difficult to resolve in global numerical simulations of collapsing cloud cores, but its effect on the evolution of the entire disk can be significant. We use numerical hydrodynamics simulations to model the long-term evolution of self-gravitating and viscous circumstellar disks in the thin-disk limit. Simulations start from the gravitational collapse of prestellar cores of 0.5--1.0~$M_\odot$ and both gaseous and dusty subsystems were considered, including a model for dust growth. The inner unresolved 1.0 au of the disk is replaced with a central "smart" cell (CSC) -- a simplified model that simulates physical processes that may occur in this region. We found that the mass transport rate through the CSC has an appreciable effect on the evolution of the entire disk. Models with slow mass transport form more massive and warmer disks and they are more susceptible to gravitational instability and fragmentation, including a newly identified episodic mode of disk fragmentation in the T Tauri phase of disk evolution. Models with slow mass transport through the CSC feature episodic accretion and luminosity bursts in the early evolution, while models with fast transport are characterized by a steadily declining accretion rate with low-amplitude flickering. Dust grows to a larger, decimeter size in the slow transport models and efficiently drifts in the CSC, where it accumulates reaching the limit when streaming instability becomes operational. We argue that gravitational instability, together with streaming instability likely operating in the inner disk regions, constitute two concurrent planet-forming mechanisms, which may explain the observed diversity of exoplanetary orbits (Abridged)., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy \& Astrophysics

Hydrogen deuteride (HD) rotational line emission can provide reliable protoplanetary disk gas mass measurements, but it is difficult to observe and detections have been limited to three T-Tauri disks. No new data have been available since the \emph{Herschel} Space Observatory mission ended in 2013. We set out to obtain new disk gas mass constraints by analysing upper limits on HD 1-0 emission in \emph{Herschel}/PACS archival data from the DIGIT key programme. With a focus on the Herbig Ae/Be disks, whose stars are more luminous than T Tauris, we determine upper limits for HD in data previosly analysed for its line detections. Their significance is studied with a grid of models run with the DALI physical-chemical code, customised to include deuterium chemistry. Nearly all the disks are constrained to $M_{\rm gas}\leq0.1\,$M$_{\odot}$, ruling out global gravitational instability. A strong constraint is obtained for the HD 163296 disk mass, $M_{\rm gas} \leq 0.067\,$M$_{\odot}$, implying $\Delta_{\rm g/d}\leq100$. This HD-based mass limit is towards the low end of CO-based mass estimates for the disk, highlighting the large uncertainty in using only CO and suggesting that gas-phase CO depletion in HD 163296 is at most a factor of a few. The $M_{\rm gas}$ limits for HD 163296 and HD 100546, both bright disks with massive candidate protoplanetary systems, suggest disk-to-planet mass conversion efficiencies of $M_{\rm p}/(M_{\rm gas} + M_{\rm p})\approx10$ to $40\,$% for present-day values. Near-future observations with SOFIA/HIRMES will be able to detect HD in the brightest Herbig~Ae/Be disks within $150\,$pc with $\approx10\,$h integration time., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Implementation of a novel embedded Runge–Kutta fourth order four stage arithmetic root mean square technique to determine initial configurations of extra-solar protoplanets formed by gravitational instability is the main goal of this present paper. A general mathematical framework for the introduced numerical technique is described in addition to error estimation description. It is noticed that the numerical outputs through the employed novel RKARMS(4,4) method are found to be more effective and efficient in comparison with the results obtained by the classical Runge–Kutta technique.

We carry out three dimensional SPH simulations to show that a migrating giant planet strongly suppresses the spiral structure in self-gravitating discs. We present mock ALMA continuum observations which show that in the absence of a planet, spiral arms due to gravitational instability are easily observed. Whereas in the presence of a giant planet, the spiral structures are suppressed by the migrating planet resulting in a largely axisymmetric disc with a ring and gap structure. Our modelling of the gas kinematics shows that the planet's presence could be inferred, for example, using optically thin 13C16O. Our results show that it is not necessary to limit the gas mass of discs by assuming high dust-to-gas mass ratios in order to explain a lack of spiral features that would otherwise be expected in high mass discs., Comment: Accepted to ApJL. 9 pages, 5 figures

Aims. The early evolution of protostellar disks with metallicities in the Z = 1.0 − 0.01 Z⊙ range was studied with a particular emphasis on the strength of gravitational instability and the nature of protostellar accretion in low-metallicity systems. Methods. Numerical hydrodynamics simulations in the thin-disk limit were employed that feature separate gas and dust temperatures, and disk mass-loading from the infalling parent cloud cores. Models with cloud cores of similar initial mass and rotation pattern but distinct metallicity were considered to distinguish the effect of metallicity from that of the initial conditions. Results. The early stages of disk evolution in low-metallicity models are characterized by vigorous gravitational instability and fragmentation. Disk instability is sustained by continual mass-loading from the collapsing core. The time period that is covered by this unstable stage is much shorter in the Z = 0.01 Z⊙ models than in their higher metallicity counterparts thanks to the higher rates of mass infall caused by higher gas temperatures (which decouple from lower dust temperatures) in the inner parts of collapsing cores. Protostellar accretion rates are highly variable in the low-metallicity models reflecting the highly dynamic nature of the corresponding protostellar disks. The low-metallicity systems feature short but energetic episodes of mass accretion caused by infall of inward-migrating gaseous clumps that form via gravitational fragmentation of protostellar disks. These bursts seem to be more numerous and last longer in the Z = 0.1 Z⊙ models than in the Z = 0.01 Z⊙ case. Conclusions. Variable protostellar accretion with episodic bursts is not a particular feature of solar metallicity disks. It is also inherent to gravitationally unstable disks with metallicities up to 100 times lower than solar.

Solar-type young stellar objects undergo periodic, energetic outbursts that appear to be the result of enhanced mass accretion driven by the gravitational instability of their disks. Such FU Orionis outbursts may have profound consequences for the earliest solids in a protoplanetary disk, namely the refractory inclusions containing abundant calcium and aluminum (CAIs). We present models of the orbital evolution of centimeter-radius particles representing large CAIs in marginally gravitationally unstable disks. The hydrodynamical evolution of the disks is calculated with a fully three-dimensional code, including compressional heating and cooling in the beta cooling approximation. The particles are initially distributed uniformly throughout the disk, which extends from 1 to 10 au around a solar-mass protostar, but within ∼100 yr the particles are concentrated by gas drag into regions surrounding the spiral arms and rings formed by the gas disk. The particles settle down toward the disk midplane, only to be lofted repeatedly upward by shock fronts. Large-scale radial transport both outward and inward occurs, with significant numbers of particles reaching the outer disk (∼10 au) and surviving for considerably longer times than would be the case in a quiescent disk with gas pressure monotonically decreasing with distance from the protostar. Individual particles experience wide ranges of disk temperatures during their journeys, ranging from 60 K in the outer disk to nearly 2000 K in spiral features. Future work will consider the implications for CAI rims of the thermochemical processing experienced during FU Orionis outbursts.

The formation and early evolution of low mass young stellar objects (YSOs) are investigated using three-dimensional non-ideal magneto-hydrodynamics simulations. We investigate the evolution of YSOs up to ~ 10^4 yr after protostar formation, at which protostellar mass reaches ~ 0.1 M_\odot . We particularly focus on the impact of the dust model on the evolution. We found that a circumstellar disk is formed in all simulations regardless of the dust model. Disk size is approximately 10 AU at the protostar formation epoch, and it increases to several tens of AU at ~ 10^4 yr after protostar formation. Disk mass is comparable to central protostellar mass and gravitational instability develops. In the simulations with small dust size, the warp of the pseudodisk develops ~ 10^4 yr after protostar formation. The warp strengthens magnetic braking in the disk and decreases disk size. Ion-neutral drift can occur in the infalling envelope under the conditions that the typical dust size is a \gtrsim 0.2{\mu}m and the protostar (plus disk) mass is M \gtrsim 0.1 M_\odot. The outflow activity is anti-correlated to the dust size and the strong outflow appears with small dust grains., Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. The published version is available from https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab93d0. This is open access

We study the dynamics and growth of dust particles in circumstellar disks of different masses that are prone to gravitational instability during the critical first Myr of their evolution. The dust component is made up of two different components: micron-sized dust and grown dust of evolving size. For the dust component, we considered the dust coagulation, fragmentation, momentum exchange with the gas, and dust self-gravity. We found that the micron-sized dust particles grow rapidly in the circumstellar disk, reaching a few cm in size in the inner 100 au of the disk during less than 100 kyr after the disk formation, provided that fragmentation velocity is $30\rm~ms^{-1}$. Due to the accretion of micron dust particles from the surrounding envelope, which serves as a micron dust reservoir, the approximately cm-sized dust particles continue to be present in the disk for more than 900 kyr after the disk formation and maintain a dust-to-gas ratio close to 0.01. We show that a strong correlation exists between the gas and pebble fluxes in the disk. We find that radial surface density distribution of pebbles in the disk shows power-law distribution with an index similar to that of the Minimum-mass solar nebula (MMSN) regardless the disk mass. We also show that the gas surface density in our models agrees well with measurements of dust in protoplanetary disks of AS 209, HD 163296, and DoAr 25 systems. Pebbles are formed during the very early stages of protoplanetary disk evolution. They play a crucial role in the planet formation process. Our disc simulations reveal the early onset ($, 13 pages, 10 figures

A recent ALMA observation of the Elias 2-27 system revealed a two-armed structure extending out to ~300 au in radius. The protostellar disc surrounding the central star is unusually massive, raising the possibility that the system is gravitationally unstable. Recent work has shown that the observed morphology of the system can be explained by disc self-gravity, so we examine the physical properties of the disc necessary to detect self-gravitating spiral waves. Using three-dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, coupled with radiative transfer and synthetic ALMA imaging, we find that observable spiral structure can only be explained by self-gravity if the disc has a low opacity (and therefore efficient cooling), and is minimally supported by external irradiation. This corresponds to a very narrow region of parameter space, suggesting that, although it is possible for the spiral structure to be due to disc self-gravity, other explanations, such as an external perturbation, may be preferred., 12 pages, 5 figures

Spiral arm structures seen in scattered light observations of protoplanetary disks can potentially serve as signposts of planetary companions. They can also lend unique insights into disk masses, which are critical in setting the mass budget for planet formation but are difficult to determine directly. A surprisingly high fraction of disks that have been well-studied in scattered light have spiral arms of some kind (8/29), as do a high fraction (6/11) of well-studied Herbig intermediate mass stars (i.e., Herbig stars $> 1.5M_\odot$). Here we explore the origin of spiral arms in Herbig systems by studying their occurrence rates, disk properties, and stellar accretion rates. We find that two-arm spirals are more common in disks surrounding Herbig intermediate mass stars than are directly imaged giant planet companions to mature A and B stars. If two-arm spirals are produced by such giant planets, this discrepancy suggests that giant planets are much fainter than predicted by hot start models. In addition, the high stellar accretion rates of Herbig stars, if sustained over a reasonable fraction of their lifetimes, suggest that disk masses are much larger than inferred from their submillimeter continuum emission.As a result, gravitational instability is a possible explanation for multi-arm spirals. Future observations can lend insights into the issues raised here., ApJ accepted

Regions of disc galaxies with widespread star formation tend to be both gravitationally unstable and self-shielded against ionizing radiation, whereas extended outer discs with little or no star formation tend to be stable and unshielded on average. We explore what drives the transition between these two regimes, specifically whether discs first meet the conditions for self-shielding (parameterized by dust optical depth, $\tau$) or gravitational instability (parameterized by a modified version of Toomre's instability parameters, $Q_{\rm thermal}$, which quantifies the stability of a gas disc that is thermally supported at $T=10^4$ K). We first introduce a new metric formed by the product of these quantities, $Q_{\rm thermal}\tau$, which indicates whether the conditions for disk instability or self-shielding are easier to meet in a given region of a galaxy, and we discuss how $Q_{\rm thermal}\tau$ can be constrained even in the absence of direct gas information. We then analyse a sample of 13 galaxies with resolved gas measurements and find that on average galaxies will reach the threshold for disk instabilities ($Q_{\rm thermal}1$). Using integral field spectroscopic observations of a sample of 236 galaxies from the MaNGA survey, we find that the value of $Q_{\rm thermal}\tau$ in star-forming discs is consistent with similar behavior. These results support a scenario where disc fragmentation and collapse occurs before self-shielding, suggesting that gravitational instabilities are the primary condition for widespread star formation in galaxy discs. Our results support similar conclusions based on recent galaxy simulations., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Recent studies have shown that close-in brown dwarfs in the mass range 35-55 M$_{\rm Jup}$ are almost depleted as companions to stars, suggesting that objects with masses above and below this gap might have different formation mechanisms. We determine the fundamental stellar parameters, as well as individual abundances for a large sample of stars known to have a substellar companion in the brown dwarf regime. The sample is divided into stars hosting "massive" and "low-mass" brown dwarfs. Following previous works a threshold of 42.5 M$_{\rm Jup}$ was considered. Our results confirm that stars with brown dwarf companions do not follow the well-established gas-giant planet metallicity correlation seen in main-sequence planet hosts. Stars harbouring "massive" brown dwarfs show similar metallicity and abundance distribution as stars without known planets or with low-mass planets. We find a tendency of stars harbouring "less-massive" brown dwarfs of having slightly larger metallicity, [X$_{\rm Fe}$/Fe] values, and abundances of Sc II, Mn I, and Ni I in comparison with the stars having the massive brown dwarfs. The data suggest, as previously reported, that massive and low-mass brown dwarfs might present differences in period and eccentricity. We find evidence of a non-metallicity dependent mechanism for the formation of massive brown dwarfs. Our results agree with a scenario in which massive brown dwarfs are formed as stars. At high-metallicities, the core-accretion mechanism might become efficient in the formation of low-mass brown dwarfs while at lower metallicities low-mass brown dwarfs could form by gravitational instability in turbulent protostellar discs., accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysics

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influences of cooling timescale on fragmentation of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks. We assume the cooling timescale, expressed in terms of the dynamical timescale Ωt cool , has a power-law dependence on temperature and density, Ωt cool ∝ Σ −a T −b , where a and b are constants. We use this cooling timescale in a simple prescription for the cooling rate, du/dt = − u/t cool , where u is the internal energy. We perform our simulations using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. The simulations demonstrate that the disk is very sensitive to the cooling timescale, which depends on density and temperature. Under such a cooling timescale, the disk becomes gravitationally unstable and clumps form in the disk. This property even occurs for cooling timescales which are much longer than the critical cooling timescale, Ωt cool ⪆ 7. We show that by adding the dependence of a cooling timescale on temperature and density, the number of clumps increases and the clumps can also form at smaller radii. The simulations imply that the sensitivity of a cooling timescale to density is more than to temperature, because even for a small dependence of the cooling timescale on density, clumps can still form in the disk. However, when the cooling timescale has a large dependence on temperature, clumps form in the disk. We also consider the effects of artificial viscosity parameters on fragmentation conditions. This consideration is performed in two cases, where Ωt cool is a constant and Ωt cool is a function of density and temperature. The simulations consider both cases, and results show the artificial viscosity parameters have rather similar effects. For example, using too small of values for linear and quadratic terms in artificial viscosity can suppress the gravitational instability and consequently the efficiency of the clump formation process decreases. This property is consistent with recent simulations of self-gravitating disks. We perform simulations with and without the Balsara form of artificial viscosity. We find that in the cooling and self-gravitating disks without the Balsara switch, the clumps can form more easily than those with the Balsara switch. Moreover, in both cases where the Balsara switch is present or absent, the simulations show that the cooling timescale strongly depends on density and temperature.

Fragmentation of protostellar disks controls the growth of protostars and plays a key role in determining the final mass of newborn stars. In this paper, we investigate the structure and gravitational stability of the protostellar disks in the full metallicity range between zero and the solar value. Using the mass-accretion rates evaluated from the thermal evolution in the preceding collapse phase of the pre-stellar cores, we calculate disk structures and their evolution in the framework of the standard steady disks. Overall, with higher metallicity, more efficient cooling results in the lower accretion rate and lower temperature inside the disk: at zero metallicity, the accretion rate is ~ 1e-3Msun/yr and the disk temperature is ~ 1000 K, while at solar metallicity, ~ 1e-6Msun/yr and 10 K. Despite the large difference in these values, the zero- and solar-metallicity disks have similar stability properties: the Toomre parameter for the gravitational stability, which can be written using the ratio of temperatures in the disk and in the envelope as Q ~ (T_disk/T_env)^3/2, is > 1, i.e., marginally stable. At intermediate metallicities of 1e-5--1e-3Zsun, however, the disks are found to be strongly unstable with Q ~ 0.1--1 since dust cooling, which is effective only in the disks due to their high density (> 1e10 cm^-3), makes the temperature in the disks lower than that in the envelopes. This indicates that masses of the individual stars formed as a result of the protostellar disk fragmentation can be significantly smaller than their parent core in this metallicity range. The typical stellar mass in this case would be a few Msun, which is consistent with the observationally suggested mass-scale of extremely metal-poor stars., 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We explore the ability of a protostellar disc to fragment using an evolutionary disc model. Our disc model includes the mass influx from a molecular cloud core, the irradiation from the central star, the magnetorotational instability (MRI), and the gravitational instability (Kratter et al. in Astrophys. J. 681:375, 2008). We use the fragmentation criterion of Gammie (Astrophys. J. 553:174, 2001) and Rafikov (Astrophys. J. 621:L69, 2005) to judge whether or not a protostellar disc can fragment. We find that there is a link between whether a protostellar disc can fragment and the properties of the molecular cloud cores (angular velocity $\omega$ , temperature $T_{\mathrm{core}}$ , and mass $M_{\mathrm{core}}$ ). In the parameter space $\omega-M_{\mathrm{core}}$ , there is a critical value $\omega_{\mathrm{crit}}$ , which divides the parameter space into two regions: one is the fragmentation region, the other is the non-fragmentation region. The protostellar disc can only fragment when $\omega> \omega_{\mathrm{crit}}$ . The reason can be understood as follows. The protostellar disc is formed from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud core, the properties of the molecular cloud core determine the properties of the protostellar disc. Thus the two categories of protostellar discs correspond to two categories of molecular cloud cores. Moreover, we find that $\omega_{\mathrm{crit}}$ is approximately a linear function of $M_{\mathrm{core}}$ in log-scale coordinates.

We estimate the maximum temperature at which planets can form via gravitational instability (GI) in the outskirts of early circumstellar disks. We show that due to the temperature floor set by the cosmic microwave background, there is a maximum distance from their host stars beyond which gas giants cannot form via GI, which decreases with their present-day age. Furthermore, we show that planet formation via GI is not possible at metallicities < 10^-4 Z_Sun, due to the reduced cooling efficiency of low-metallicity gas. This critical metallicity for planet formation via GI implies a minimum distance from their host stars of ~ 6 AU within which planets cannot form via GI; at higher metallicity, this minimum distance can be significantly greater, out to several tens of AU. We show that these maximum and minimum distances significantly constrain the number of observed planets to date that are likely to have formed via GI at their present locations. That said, the critical metallicity we find for GI is well below that for core accretion to operate; thus, the first planets may have formed via GI, although only within a narrow region of their host circumstellar disks., 6 pages, 3 figures; version accepted for publication in MNRAS

Flaring activity following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), observed in both long and short GRBs, signals a long-term activity of the central engine. However, its production mechanism has remained elusive. Here we develop a quantitative model of the idea proposed by Perna et al. of a disc whose outer regions fragment due to the onset of gravitational instability. The self-gravitating clumps migrate through the disc and begin to evolve viscously when tidal and shearing torques break them apart. Our model consists of two ingredients: theoretical bolometric flare lightcurves whose shape (width, skewness) is largely insensitive to the model parameters, and a spectral correction to match the bandpass of the available observations, that is calibrated using the observed spectra of the flares. This simple model reproduces, with excellent agreement, the empirical statistical properties of the flares as measured by their width-to-arrival time ratio and skewness (ratio between decay and rise time). We present model fits to the observed lightcurves of two well-monitored flares, of GRB 060418 and of GRB 060904B. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantitative model able to reproduce the flare lightcurves and explain their global statistical properties., 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication on M.N.R.A.S

Galaxies' interstellar media (ISM) are observed to be supersonically-turbulent, but the ultimate power source that drives turbulent motion remains uncertain. The two dominant models are that the turbulence is driven by star formation feedback and/or that it is produced by gravitational instability in the gas. Here we show that, while both models predict that the galaxies' ISM velocity dispersions will be positively correlated with their star formation rates, the forms of the correlation predicted by these two models are subtly but measurably different. A feedback-driven origin for the turbulence predicts a velocity dispersion that rises more sharply with star formation rate, and that does not depend on the gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto \sigma^2$), while a gravity-driven model yields a shallower rise and a strong dependence on gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto f_g^2 \sigma$). We compare the models to a collection of data on local and high-redshift galaxies culled from the literature, and show that the correlation expected for gravity-driven turbulence is a better match to the observations than a feedback-driven model. This suggests that gravity is the ultimate source of ISM turbulence, at least in the rapidly-star-forming, high velocity dispersion galaxies for which our test is most effective. We conclude by discussing the limitations of the present data set, and the prospects for future measurements to enable a more definitive test of the two models., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS in press; minor text edits from previous version, no substantive changes

We analyze the gravitational instability (GI) of a locally isothermal inclined disk around one component of a binary system. Such a disk can undergo global Kozai-Lidov (KL) cycles if the initial disk tilt is above the critical KL angle (of about 40 degrees). During these cycles, an initially circular disk exchanges its inclination for eccentricity, and vice versa. Self-gravity may suppress the cycles under some circumstances. However, with hydrodynamic simulations including self-gravity we show that for a sufficiently high initial disk tilts and for certain disk masses, disks can undergo KL oscillations and fragment due to GI, even when the Toomre Q value for an equivalent undisturbed disk is well within the stable regime (Q > 2). We suggest that KL triggered disk fragmentation provides a mechanism for the efficient formation of giant planets in binary systems and may enhance fragmentation of disks in massive black hole binaries., Accepted for publication in ApJL

Author(s): Mayer, Lucio; Tamburello, Valentina; Lupi, Alessandro; Keller, Ben; Wadsley, James; Madau, Piero | Abstract: We study the dependence of fragmentation in massive gas-rich galaxy disks at $z g 1$ on feedback model and hydrodynamical method, employing the GASOLINE2 SPH code and the lagrangian mesh-less code GIZMO in finite mass mode. We compare non-cosmological galaxy disk runs with standard blastwave supernovae (SN)feedback, which introduces delayed cooling in order to drive winds, and runs with the new superbubble SN feedback, which produces winds naturally by modelling the detailed physics of SN-driven bubbles and leads to efficient self-regulation of star formation. We find that, with blastwave feedback, massive star forming clumps form in comparable number and with very similar masses in GASOLINE2 and GIZMO. The typical masses are in the range $10^7-10^8 M_{\odot}$, lower than in most previous works, while giant clumps with masses above $10^9 M_{\odot}$ are exceedingly rare. With superbubble feedback, instead, massive bound star forming clumps do not form because galaxies never undergo a phase of violent disk instability. Only sporadic, unbound star forming overdensities lasting only a few tens of Myr can arise that are triggered by perturbations of massive satellite companions. We conclude that there is a severe tension between explaining massive star forming clumps observed at $z g 1$ primarily as the result of disk fragmentation driven by gravitational instability and the prevailing view of feedback-regulated galaxy formation. The link between disk stability and star formation efficiency should thus be regarded as a key testing ground for galaxy formation theory.

Circumplanetary disks can be found around forming giant planets, regardless of whether core accretion or gravitational instability built the planet. We carried out state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of the circumplanetary disks for both formation scenarios, using as similar initial conditions as possible to unveil possible intrinsic differences in the circumplanetary disk mass and temperature between the two formation mechanisms. We found that the circumplanetary disks mass linearly scales with the circumstellar disk mass. Therefore, in an equally massive protoplanetary disk, the circumplanetary disks formed in the disk instability model can be only a factor of eight more massive than their core-accretion counterparts. On the other hand, the bulk circumplanetary disk temperature differs by more than an order of magnitude between the two cases. The subdisks around planets formed by gravitational instability have a characteristic temperature below 100 K, while the core accretion circumplanetary disks are hot, with temperatures even greater than 1000 K when embedded in massive, optically thick protoplanetary disks. We explain how this difference can be understood as the natural result of the different formation mechanisms. We argue that the different temperatures should persist up to the point when a full-fledged gas giant forms via disk instability, hence our result provides a convenient criteria for observations to distinguish between the two main formation scenarios by measuring the bulk temperature in the planet vicinity., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication at MNRAS

We investigate the gravitational instability of galactic discs, treating stars and cold interstellar gas as two distinct components, and taking into account the phenomenology of turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM), i.e. the Larson-type scaling relations observed in the molecular and atomic gas. Besides deriving general properties of such systems, we analyse a large sample of galaxies from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS), and show in detail how interstellar turbulence affects disc instability in star-forming spirals. We find that turbulence has a significant effect on both the inner and the outer regions of the disc. In particular, it drives the inner gas disc to a regime of transition between two instability phases and makes the outer disc more prone to star-dominated instabilities.