turbulence & convection

A snapshot of the density field taken during a hydrodynamics simulation of driven turbulence.

Turbulence and convection are inherently 3-dimensional processes that crop up in all areas of astrophysics and the realm of planet formation is no exception. Hydrodynamical instabilities within protoplanetary disks, planet envelopes, and circumplanetary disks can all lead to turbulence thereby driving mass, angular momentum, and energy tranport. Due to the 3-dimensional nature of astrophysical turbulence and convection, the physics can only be properly studied with hydrodynamical simulations. While convection and turbulence can naturally arise as side-effects in my simulations, I have been working on developing dedicated simulations focused on the role of turbulence in the following contexts:

• magneto-rotational instability (MRI) driven turbulence disrupting the envelopes of forming planets in the very hot inner regions of protoplanetary disks.
• double-diffusive convection (akin to moist convection in atmospheric science contexts) driving mixing in planet atmospheres.
• convection in the outer regions of planetary envelopes causing dredge-up and pollution of the surrounding protoplanetary disk.
• MRI turbulence in the CPD midplane and resultant angular momentum tranport