A prerequisite for the formation of stars and planetary systems is that angular momentum be transported in some way from the inner regions of the accretion disk. Tidal effects may play an important part in this angular momentum transport. Here the angular momentum transfer in a star-disk encounter is investigated numerically for a variety of encounter parameters in the case of low-mass disks. Although good agreement is found with analytical results for the entire disk, the loss inside the disk can be up to an order of magnitude higher than previously assumed. The differences in angular momentum transport caused by secondary stars on hyperbolic, parabolic, and elliptical paths are shown, and it is found that a succession of distant encounters might be equally, if not more, successful in removing angular momentum than a single close encounter.
展开▼
