Irradiated Disks May Settle into Staircases

Much of a protoplanetary disk is thermally controlled by irradiation from the central star. Such a disk, long thought to have a smoothly flaring shape, is unstable due to the so-called irradiation instability . But what is the outcome of such an instability? In particular, is it possible that such a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Taylor Kutra, Yanqin Wu, Yoram Lithwick
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2024-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad26e5