Simulations of Multiple Dust Ring Formation in a Subsolar-metallicity Protoplanetary Disk

Abstract Super-Earths exist around subsolar-metallicity host stars with a frequency comparable to that around solar-metallicity stars, suggesting efficient assembly of dust grains even in metal-deficient environments. In this study, we propose a pathway for the formation of multiple dust rings that will promote planetesimal formation in a subsolar-metallicity disk. We investigate the long-term evolution of a circumstellar disk with 0.1 Z ⊙ over 750 kyr from its formation stage using two-dimensional thin-disk hydrodynamic simulations. The motion of dust grains is solved separately from the gas, incorporating dust growth and self-consistent radial drift. The disk is initially gravitationally unstable and undergoes intense fragmentation. By 300 kyr, it tends toward a stable state, leaving a single gravitationally bound clump. This clump generates tightly wound spiral arms through its orbital motion. After the clump dissipates at ∼410 kyr, the spiral arms transition into axisymmetric substructures under the influence of viscosity. These axisymmetric substructures create local gas pressure bumps that halt the inward radial drift of dust grains, resulting in the formation of multiple ring-shaped dust distributions. We observe several rings within ≃200 au of the central star, with separations between them of the order of ∼10 au, and dust surface density contrasts with inter-ring gaps by factors of ∼10–100. We also demonstrate that turbulent viscosities at observationally suggested levels are essential for converting spiral arms into axisymmetric substructures. We speculate that the physical conditions in the dust rings may be conducive to the development of streaming instability and planetesimal formation.