Angular Momentum Transport in Astrophysical Disks

The evolution of astrophysical disks is dominated by instabilities of gravity perturbations (e.g., those produced by a spontaneous disturbance). We develop a hydrodynamic theory of nonresonant Jeans instability in a dynamically cold subsystem (identified as the gaseous component) of a disk. We show analytically that gravitationally unstable systems, such as disks of rotationally supported galaxies, protoplanetary disks, and, finally, the solar nebula are efficient at transporting mass and angular momentum: already on a timescale of on the order of 2-3 rotational periods an unstable disk sees a large portion of its angular momentum transferred outward, and mass transferred both inward and outward.