Dust Coagulation and Sedimentation Quench Strong VSI in Class II Protoplanetary Disks Within 300 kyr
Incorporating dust evolution into VSI simulations shows that strong vertical mixing is suppressed after a few hundred thousand years once millimeter grains settle and slow gas cooling. This naturally explains thin class II disk geometries while retaining expected near-infrared morphologies. The result implies VSI is mainly a class I phenomenon.
Next steps include targeted ALMA Band 6/7 observations of class I versus class II transition objects to test whether VSI signatures decline on the predicted timescale, and incorporation of magnetic fields to assess whether residual weak VSI can coexist with MRI-dead zones.
Pfeil et al.: ALMA surveys of 50 class I disks will detect VSI-induced vertical dust extensions >3 scale heights in at least 60% of targets observed before 2029.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28618)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03179)