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Copyright by Athena Ranice Stacy 2011 - The University of Texas at ...

Copyright by Athena Ranice Stacy 2011 - The University of Texas at ...

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3.2.3 Sink Particle Method<br />

When an SPH particle reaches a density <strong>of</strong> nmax = 10 12 cm −3 , we<br />

convert it to a sink particle. If a gas particle is within the accretion radius<br />

racc <strong>of</strong> the sink, and if it is not rot<strong>at</strong>ionally supported against infall onto<br />

the sink, the sink accretes the particle. <strong>The</strong> sink thus accretes the particles<br />

within its smoothing kernel immedi<strong>at</strong>ely after it first forms. We check for<br />

rot<strong>at</strong>ional support <strong>by</strong> comparing the angular momentum <strong>of</strong> the near<strong>by</strong> gas<br />

particle, jSPH = vrotd, with the angular momentum required for centrifugal<br />

support, jcent = √ GMsinkracc, where vrot and d are the rot<strong>at</strong>ional velocity and<br />

distance <strong>of</strong> the particle rel<strong>at</strong>ive to the sink. If a gas particle s<strong>at</strong>isfies both<br />

d < racc and jSPH < jcent, it is removed from the simul<strong>at</strong>ion, and the mass <strong>of</strong><br />

the accreted particle is added to th<strong>at</strong> <strong>of</strong> the sink.<br />

Our sink accretion algorithm furthermore allows for the merging <strong>of</strong> two<br />

sink particles. We use similar criteria for sink particle merging as for sink<br />

accretion. If the smaller, secondary sink is within racc <strong>of</strong> the more massive<br />

sink and has specific angular momentum less than jcent <strong>of</strong> the larger sink, the<br />

sinks are merged. After an accretion or merger event, the position <strong>of</strong> the sink<br />

is set to the mass-weighted average <strong>of</strong> the sink’s former position and th<strong>at</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

the accreted gas or secondary sink. <strong>The</strong> same is done for the sink velocity. We<br />

note th<strong>at</strong>, as discussed in Greif et al. (<strong>2011</strong>), modific<strong>at</strong>ions to the sink merging<br />

alogorithm can significantly alter the sink accretion history. Future work will<br />

include studies <strong>of</strong> how a different technique for sink merging would modify our<br />

results.<br />

We set the accretion radius equal to the resolution length <strong>of</strong> the simu-<br />

l<strong>at</strong>ion, racc = Lres 50 AU, where<br />

59

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