Spiral density waves and vertical circulation in protoplanetary discs

Abstract: Spiral density waves dominate several facets of accretion disc dynamics --- planet-disc interactions and gravitational instability (GI) most prominently. Though they have been examined thoroughly in two-dimensional simulations, their vertical structures in the non-linear regime are somewhat unexplored. This neglect is unwarranted given that any strong vertical motions associated with these waves could profoundly impact dust dynamics, dust sedimentation, planet formation, and the emissivity of the disc surface. In this paper we combine linear calculations and shearing box simulations in order to investigate the vertical structure of spiral waves for various polytropic stratifications and wave amplitudes. For sub-adiabatic profiles we find that spiral waves develop a pair of counter-rotating poloidal rolls. Particularly strong in the nonlinear regime, these vortical structures issue from the baroclinicity supported by the background vertical entropy gradient. They are also intimately connected to the disk's g-modes which appear to interact nonlinearly with the density waves. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the poloidal rolls are ubiquitous in gravitoturbulence, emerging in the vicinity of GI spiral wakes, and potentially transporting grains off the disk midplane. Other than hindering sedimentation and planet formation, this phenomena may bear on observations of the disk's scattered infrared luminosity. The vortical features could also impact on the turbulent dynamo operating in young protoplanetary discs subject to GI, or possibly even galactic discs.