PF-02-0034

Warps and Breaks in Protoplanetary Disks

Ian Carlos Rabago, Zhaohuan Zhu, Rebecca Martin, Stephen Lubow

Disks are common features in astrophysical systems at all scales, from planets to stars to galaxies. Though usually planar, external forces can disturb the disk and cause it to become warped. These "warped" disks are able to explain a variety of observations, such as bending waves in Saturn's rings and periodicity of X-ray binaries, and the study and evolution of these disks is an area of active research. We present grid-based simulations of accretion disks warped by the torque of a central binary star system. Our simulations reproduce the expected theoretical behavior at the high and low viscosity limits. At low viscosities, disk breaking is observed. We provide new insights into the breaking condition for disks, as well as predictions to the location of the breaking radius. Finally, we show that in certain conditions, the breaking process can happen repeatedly, allowing a disk to separate into multiple rings.