Influence of cooling times on VSI-induced vortex formation

Characterize how varying cooling times influence the onset, evolution, merging, and longevity of vortices generated by the Vertical Shear Instability in protoplanetary disks.

Background

The paper notes that VSI activity may contribute to vortex formation in the disk midplane, even though the VSI itself subsides after a relatively short time. Earlier simulations found that vortex formation can begin rapidly and that small structures may subsequently merge into vertically extended, long-lived vortices.

As dust coagulation proceeds, the depletion of small grains lengthens the gas cooling time and may move the disk into a cooling-time regime relevant to Subcritical Baroclinic Instability. The authors state that the effect of varying cooling times on this vortex-formation process has not yet been investigated, leaving unresolved how dust evolution and changing thermal relaxation affect the formation and persistence of VSI-induced vortices.

References

It has not been investigated to date how varying cooling times influence this process.

— Just a Phase? Weakening Vertical Shear Instability Explains Class II Disk Morphologies: Simulations with dust coagulation, sedimentation, thermal relaxation, and backreaction  (2609.28618 - Pfeil et al., 23 Sep 2026) in Section 3, Discussion, subsection “Three-dimensional Effects: Flow Structure Formation”