The transition between magnetorotational instability (MRI)-active and magnetically dead regions corresponds to a sharp change in the disk turbulence level, where pressure maxima may form, hence potentially trapping dust particles and explaining some of the observed disk substructures.

We aim to provide the first building blocks toward a self-consistent approach to assess the dead zone outer edge as a viable location for dust trapping, under the framework of viscously driven accretion.

We present a 1+1D global magnetically driven disk accretion model that captures the essence of the MRI-driven accretion, without resorting to 3D global nonideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. The gas dynamics is assumed to be solely controlled by the MRI and hydrodynamic instabilities. For given stellar and disk parameters, the Shakura–Sunyaev viscosity parameter, α, is determined self-consistently under the adopted framework from detailed considerations of the MRI with nonideal MHD effects (Ohmic resistivity and ambipolar diffusion), accounting for disk heating by stellar irradiation, nonthermal sources of ionization, and dust effects on the ionization chemistry. Additionally, the magnetic field strength is numerically constrained to maximize the MRI activity.

We demonstrate the use of our framework by investigating steady-state MRI-driven accretion in a fiducial protoplanetary disk model around a solar-type star. We find that the equilibrium solution displays no pressure maximum at the dead zone outer edge, except if a sufficient amount of dust particles has accumulated there before the disk reaches a steady-state accretion regime. Furthermore, the steady-state accretion solution describes a disk that displays a spatially extended long-lived inner disk gas reservoir (the dead zone) that accretes a few times 10⁻⁹ M_⊙ yr⁻¹. By conducting a detailed parameter study, we find that the extent to which the MRI can drive efficient accretion is primarily determined by the total disk gas mass, the representative grain size, the vertically integrated dust-to-gas mass ratio, and the stellar X-ray luminosity.

A self-consistent time-dependent coupling between gas, dust, stellar evolution models, and our general framework on million-year timescales is required to fully understand the formation of dead zones and their potential to trap dust particles.