Simulations of vertical shear instability in accretion discs

¹ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany e-mail: rarlt@aip.de
² A.F. Ioffe Institute for Physics and Technology, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia

Received: 18 December 2003
Accepted: 20 June 2004

Abstract

The nonlinear evolution of the vertical shear instability in accretion discs is investigated using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. A vertical dependence of the angular velocity destabilizes the disc and leads to the generation of velocity fluctuations enhancing the angular momentum transport. The instability emerges in the numerical models for large radial perturbation wave numbers. The growth time is a few tens of orbital revolutions.