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Fragmentation in optically thick regions with temperature-dependent dust opacity

Establish whether fragmentation occurs in the optically thick portions of protostellar disks in simulations that adopt realistic, temperature-dependent dust opacity consistent with protostellar conditions.

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Background

Temperature-dependent dust opacity modifies cooling rates in both optically thin and thick limits and may significantly affect fragmentation thresholds and rates. Prior studies have implemented such opacities and reported fragmentation, but it is unclear in which optical-depth regimes fragmentation actually occurs.

Resolving whether fragmentation takes place in optically thick regions is essential for interpreting simulation results and for accurate modeling of young, massive disks.

References

Some previous studies have observed fragmentation while adopting a more realistic dust opacity that captures the positive dlogκ/dlogT at low temperature (e.g., Mercer & Stamatellos 2017; Hall et al. 2017; Cadman et al. 2021), but it remains unclear whether fragmentation occurs at optically thick portions of the disk in these simulations.

— Global Simulations of Gravitational Instability in Protostellar Disks with Full Radiation Transport. I. Stochastic Fragmentation with Optical-depth-dependent Rate and Universal Fragment Mass (2410.12042 - Xu et al., 15 Oct 2024) in Section 4.4