95.30.Tg Thermodynamic processes, conduction, convection, equations of state
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- dust formation (2)
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- ZIB Allgemein (2)
Dust formation {in brown dwarf atmospheres} is studied by utilizing a model for driven turbulence in the mesoscopic scale regime. We apply a pseudo-spectral method where waves are created and superimposed {within} a {limited} wavenumber interval. The turbulent kinetic energy distribution follows the Kolmogoroff spectrum which is assumed to be the most likely value. Such superimposed, stochastic waves may occur in a convectively active environment. They cause nucleation fronts and nucleation events and thereby initiate the dust formation process which { continues until} all condensible material is consumed. Small disturbances {are found to} have a large impact on the dust forming system. An initially dust-hostile region, which may originally be optically thin, becomes optically thick in a patchy way showing considerable variations in the dust properties during the formation process. The dust appears in lanes and curls as a result of the interaction with waves, i.e. turbulence, which form larger and larger structures with time. Aiming on a physical understanding of the variability of brown dwarfs, related to structure formation in substellar atmospheres, we work out first necessary criteria for small-scale closure models to be applied in macroscopic simulations of dust forming astrophysical systems.
Substellar atmospheres are cool and dense enough that dust forms very efficiently. As soon as these particles are formed, they sizedependently precipitate due to the large gravity of the objects. Arriving in hot atmospheric layers, the dust evaporates and enriches the gas by those elements from which it has formed. The upper atmospheric layers are depleted by the same elements. Non-continuous and spatially inhomogeneous convective element replenishment, generating a turbulent fluid field, completes the circuit of dust. The formation of dust in substellar atmosphere is described by extending the classical theory of Gail\plus Sedlmayr for the case of different gas and dust velocities. Turbulence is modeled in different scale regimes which reveals turbulence as trigger for dust formation in hot environments. Both mechanisms cause the dust to be present in else wise dust-hostile region: precipitation transports the dust into hot regions, and turbulence allows the formation of dust in there.