3D vortices in self-gravitating accretion discs

Lin & Pierens, MNRAS, accepted.

Vortex evolution in a self-gravitating (top) and non-self-gravitating (bottom) disk. Evidently, the vortex persists with self-gravity but decays without it.

We study the evolution of 3D vortices in self-gravitating accretion disks using numerical simulations. We consider classically stable disks with Toomre Q > 2, which is traditionally considered non-self-gravitating. However, we find that self-gravity significantly affects vortex dynamics in these classically stable disks.

In 3D, vortices are known to develop `elliptic instabilities', which leads to hydrodynamic turbulence that attempts to destroy the vortex. Indeed, in simulations without self-gravity the vortex decays away. However, when self-gravity is included, we find the 3D vortex survives, albeit with a turbulent core. These two outcomes are compared in the figure.