The Short Circuit Instability in Protoplanetary Disks: Processing high temperature minerals

¹ Dept. of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, CPW at 79th St., New York, NY 10024
² Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Konigstuhl 17, Heidelberg, Germany D-69117
³ Dept. of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W 120th St, New York, NY 10027
⁴ Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, CPW at 79th St., New York, NY 10024
⁵ Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
⁶ Centro De Radioastronomia y Astrofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 58089, MICH, Mexico

^a e-mail: hubbard@amnh.org

Abstract

We introduce a magneto-hydrodynamic instability which occurs, among other locations, in the inner, hot regions of protoplanetary disks, and which alters the way in which resistive dissipation of magnetic energy into heat proceeds. This instability can be likened to both an electrical short circuit and lightning, as it concentrates the dissipation of magnetic energy by means of the enhanced release of free electrons. This instability can generate very high temperatures, making it an excellent candidate for thermally processing protoplanetary disk solids, from annealing silicates to melting chondrules or even CAIs.