This disk catalogue contains approximately 300 model disks simulated using a modified version of RMVS3, an n-body integrator. Radiation pressure, solar wind and Poynting-Robertson drag were added to accurately simulate the fate of small (micrometre to centimetre) particles. The size of the particles (along with other factors like stellar mass and luminosity) determines the relative strength of the radiation force on a particle, when compared with the gravitational force (Relatively speaking, smaller particles are affected more by the radiation force). The ratio of radiation force to gravitation force on a particle is denoted "Beta", so Beta=0.1 means the radiation force is 1/10 as strong as the gravitational force.
Axis Options
To compare the effects of different system parameters, first choose those that will vary. For example, if you want to look at the effect of varying planetary mass and eccentricity, set the variable to be displayed on the x-axis to "Mass", and the variable to be displayed on the y-axis to "Eccentricity".
Fixed Options
Since there are a total of five parameters which can be varied, you will need to fix the non-varying parameters. If, continuing the example from above, we are varying planetary mass and eccentricity, we need to set initial test particle distance (e.g., "Mid"), initial test particle eccentricity (e.g., "Low") and Beta (e.g., 0.1). Just ignore the parameters which you have already chosen to vary - their value here will have no effect.
It should be noted that a majority of the simulations were carried out with Beta=0.1. If you wish to see the effects of varying Beta, I suggest you set Mass=Mjupiter - like Beta=0.1, nearly all combinations containing this parameter were simulated.
Display Options
A number of different visualisations of the simulated disks are available. As well as the physical distribution of dust ("distribution"), you can also select simple intensity ("intensity"), where the distribution has been weighted by 1/r^2 to simulate the decreasing amount of stellar intensity absorbed and re-radiated by the dust. Alternatively, Modified Intensity weights the distribution by assuming the dust absorbs and emits like a blackbody, and has been viewed at 850 micrometres. Convolved Modified Intensity shows what the system might look like if observed with a telescope with a 40 AU beamsize (FWHM, assuming beam has Gaussian response), which smears out the detail in the images. Finally, Position shows the amount of recorded particle positions vs semi-major axis, which shows which resonances have dominated in this system.
Each system was recorded so that three different orbital phases were captured, allowing the comparison of how structure changes as the planet moves. Select orbital phase 1, 2 or 3 to see how the disk changes as the planet moves through its orbit
You can also change the image size to make it easier to see small detail, or to compare more images