Using EUV-driven external photoevaporation to test viscous evolution of protoplanetary discs
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Ballabio, Giulia
Owen, James E
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Protoplanetary discs are thought to evolve either through angular momentum transport driven by viscous processes or through angular momentum removal induced by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) winds. One proposed method to distinguish between these two evolutionary pathways is by comparing mass accretion rates and disc sizes, but observational constraints complicate this distinction. In this study, we investigate how extreme ultraviolet external photoevaporation affects the evolution of protoplanetary discs, particularly in environments such as the Orion Nebula Cluster. Using a combination of analytical derivations and 1D numerical simulations, we explore the impact of externally induced mass-loss on disc structure and accretion dynamics. We demonstrate that, in the viscous scenario, there exists a clear, near one-to-one correlation between the mass-loss rate due to external photoevaporative outflows and the mass accretion rate onto the central star. In contrast, MHD wind-driven discs do not exhibit such trend, leading to a distinct evolutionary path. External photoevaporative mass-loss rates and mass accretion rates can both be accurately measured for a population of discs, without a strong model dependence. Thus, our findings provide a robust observational test to distinguish between viscous and MHD wind-driven disc evolution, offering a new approach to constraining angular momentum transport mechanisms in protoplanetary discs. Applying this diagnostic observationally requires joint measurements of M acc and ˙ M pe and for the same objects, which are currently scarce in bright H ii regions due to contamination and sensitivity limitations.
Date Issued
2026-04-01
Date Acceptance
2026-02-13
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2026, 547 (2)
ISSN
0035-8711
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Journal / Book Title
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume
547
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
stag327
Date Publish Online
2026-02-24