Radial drifting in protoplanetary disks
Radial drift is a process by which dust particles migrates in Protoplanetary disks during the formation of planetesimals. It involves the motion of solid particles within the gas-dominated environment surrounding a young star and is crucial to understanding the formation of planets from protoplanetary disks. The orbital radius of larger bodies decreases about the central star due to pressure drag reducing its orbital velocity, and consequently, angular momentum.[1]
Protoplanetary disks are primarily composed of a mix of gas and solids. In the early stages, following a protoplanetary disk's formation, the core inhabitants are mainly dust and gas particles, making up the majority of its composition. Gas particles are significantly smaller than their solid counterparts, dust particles. Due to the differences in size of these particles, dust particles experience a greater gas pressure which alters the motion of these particles to orbit at slower velocities relative to the surrounding gas. Radial drifting refers to the particular scenario of inward drifting occurring to larger objects. As dust particles grow in size to form planetesimals, they gradually lose energy due to the influence gas pressure causing these bodies to slow down, resulting in a radial drift inwards.[2]
