PF-02-0024

A model of magnetically driven disk winds in protoplanetary disks

Kundan Vaman Kadam, Eduard Vorobyov, Shantanu Basu

A protoplanetary disk is thought to undergo a viscous evolution, with magnetorotational instability (MRI) providing the turbulent viscosity necessary for this process. However, recent observations as well as detailed magnetohydrodynamic simulations suggest that the MRI is significantly weaker for a sufficient mass transport. An emerging paradigm suggests that the disk winds play a central role in the disk evolution. The angular momentum is essentially transported vertically through magnetocentrifugal disk winds, which are driven along the magnetic field lines threaded within the disk. Here I present a new global, phenomenological model of magnetic wind-driven accretion for evolution of protoplanetary disks, based on the results of local shearing box simulations. Using numerical simulations, we show that the effects of angular momentum and mass loss due to winds on the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks are significant.