This research project studies the growth of spiral instabilities in protoplanetary disks, their role in angular momentum transport and the possible influence on planetary formation.

My main focus right now is in exploring the possible connection of the growth of embedded gas giant(s) and the opening of a gap in surface density to fast-growing spiral modes excited by surface density depressions (so-called "groove modes").

A portion of this work has been submitted as Meschiari & Laughlin, ApJL 2008.

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• FLASH Talk [Keynote '08]
• FLASH Talk [Powerpoint]
• FLASH Talk [PDF]
• FLASH Talk [HTML]

Disk, no groove

Disk, no groove, linear prediction

Disk with groove

Disk with groove, linear prediction

All models

Gap evolution