  Millimeter interferometry provides evidence for the presence of mm to cm size
"pebbles" in the outer parts of disks around pre-main-sequence stars. The
observations suggest that large grains are produced relatively early in disk
evolution (< 1 Myr) and remain at large radii for longer periods of time (5 to
10 Myr). Simple theoretical estimates of the radial drift time of solid
particles, however, imply that they would drift inward over a time scale of
less than 0.1 Myr. In this paper, we address this conflict between theory and
observation, using more detailed theoretical models, including the effects of
sedimentation, collective drag forces and turbulent viscosity. We find that,
although these effects slow down the radial drift of the dust particles, this
reduction is not sufficient to explain the observationally determined long
survival time of mm/cm-sized grains in protoplanetary disks. However, if for
some reason the gas to dust ratio in the disk is reduced by at least a factor
of 20 from the canonical value of 100 (for instance through photoevaporation of
the gas), then the radial drift time scales become sufficiently large to be in
agreement with observations.
