Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MHDiscs (From non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics to the structure and evolution of protoplanetary discs)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-03-01 al 2025-08-31
The MHDISCS project set out to uncover one of the great mysteries in astrophysics: how planets form and evolve within the swirling discs of gas and dust that surround young stars. These so-called protoplanetary discs are the birthplaces of planetary systems like our own. However, the complex interplay between magnetic fields, gas flows, and dust grains in these environments has long remained poorly understood.
Over the course of the project, the MHDISCS team achieved several pioneering breakthroughs:
- Modeling discs with magnetic fields and dust dynamics:
For the first time, researchers developed models that simultaneously account for both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes and the motion of dust grains. These models revealed how magnetic winds can shape the structure of the disc and influence where and how planets are likely to form.
- Understanding planet–disc–wind interactions:
The team produced the first simulations describing the coupling between planets, discs, and magnetic winds. These results shed new light on how magnetic forces can affect planet migration, a key process determining the final architecture of planetary systems.
- Developing next-generation simulation tools:
To make these advances possible, the project developed Idefix, a new MHD simulation code designed for the world’s most powerful exascale supercomputers. The code combines cutting-edge numerical accuracy with exceptional scalability and is now publicly available, enabling researchers worldwide to explore magnetized astrophysical systems with unprecedented detail.
Together, these achievements have opened a new window on the physics of planet formation. By bridging the gap between theory, computation, and observation, MHDISCS provides the scientific community with powerful tools and insights to better understand how stars and planets emerge from the cosmic dust.
Over the course of the project, the MHDISCS team achieved several pioneering breakthroughs:
- Modeling discs with magnetic fields and dust dynamics:
For the first time, researchers developed models that simultaneously account for both magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes and the motion of dust grains. These models revealed how magnetic winds can shape the structure of the disc and influence where and how planets are likely to form.
- Understanding planet–disc–wind interactions:
The team produced the first simulations describing the coupling between planets, discs, and magnetic winds. These results shed new light on how magnetic forces can affect planet migration, a key process determining the final architecture of planetary systems.
- Developing next-generation simulation tools:
To make these advances possible, the project developed Idefix, a new MHD simulation code designed for the world’s most powerful exascale supercomputers. The code combines cutting-edge numerical accuracy with exceptional scalability and is now publicly available, enabling researchers worldwide to explore magnetized astrophysical systems with unprecedented detail.
Together, these achievements have opened a new window on the physics of planet formation. By bridging the gap between theory, computation, and observation, MHDISCS provides the scientific community with powerful tools and insights to better understand how stars and planets emerge from the cosmic dust.
The following tasks have been performed during the project:
- compute a set of semi-anayltical MHD wind models to be used in the project for testing and initial exploration
- compute the first global non-ideal MHD simulations of protoplanetary disc with dust, demonstrating that MHD wind can indeed shape the dust disk in lead to observational signatures similar to the ones observed
- writte a complete MHD numerical code portable on new exascale architectures. The code is now being used to compute our numerical models and is also shared with community in a public repository.
- computed the first global non-ideal MHD simulation of planet-disc interraction, and unveil a new planet migration mode
- compute a set of semi-anayltical MHD wind models to be used in the project for testing and initial exploration
- compute the first global non-ideal MHD simulations of protoplanetary disc with dust, demonstrating that MHD wind can indeed shape the dust disk in lead to observational signatures similar to the ones observed
- writte a complete MHD numerical code portable on new exascale architectures. The code is now being used to compute our numerical models and is also shared with community in a public repository.
- computed the first global non-ideal MHD simulation of planet-disc interraction, and unveil a new planet migration mode
The project has allowed us to produce the first global models including detailed first principle physics (non-ideal MHD+grains, embedded planets). As a side product, it has also led to a new performance-portable numerical code which is now open to the community as an open-source code. The project has also led to observable signatures of embedded planet used to daignose large surveys with ALMA.