On the accumulation of solid bodies in global turbulent protoplanetary disc models

Abstract

We study the migration of solid bodies in turbulent protoplanetary accretion discs by means of global magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The bodies range in size from 5 cm up to 1 m, and so include objects whose migration is expected to be the most rapid due to gas drag interaction with the disc. As they drift inward through the disc, some of them are trapped in regions where gas pressure maxima are created by long-lived anticyclonic vortices. This accumulation is very efficient, locally increasing the dust-to-gas ratio by a factor >100 in some cases. We discuss the possible implications of this result for theories of planet formation. © 2005 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2005 RAS.