Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Fossilized condensation lines in the Solar System protoplanetary disk

Morbidelli, A. ; Bitsch, B. LU ; Crida, A. ; Gounelle, M. ; Guillot, T. ; Jacobson, S. ; Johansen, A. LU ; Lambrechts, M. LU and Lega, E. (2016) In Icarus 267. p.368-376
Abstract

The terrestrial planets and the asteroids dominant in the inner asteroid belt are water poor. However, in the protoplanetary disk the temperature should have decreased below water-condensation level well before the disk was photo-evaporated. Thus, the global water depletion of the inner Solar System is puzzling. We show that, even if the inner disk becomes cold, there cannot be direct condensation of water. This is because the snowline moves towards the Sun more slowly than the gas itself. Thus the gas in the vicinity of the snowline always comes from farther out, where it should have already condensed, and therefore it should be dry. The appearance of ice in a range of heliocentric distances swept by the snowline can only be due to the... (More)

The terrestrial planets and the asteroids dominant in the inner asteroid belt are water poor. However, in the protoplanetary disk the temperature should have decreased below water-condensation level well before the disk was photo-evaporated. Thus, the global water depletion of the inner Solar System is puzzling. We show that, even if the inner disk becomes cold, there cannot be direct condensation of water. This is because the snowline moves towards the Sun more slowly than the gas itself. Thus the gas in the vicinity of the snowline always comes from farther out, where it should have already condensed, and therefore it should be dry. The appearance of ice in a range of heliocentric distances swept by the snowline can only be due to the radial drift of icy particles from the outer disk. However, if a planet with a mass larger than 20 Earth mass is present, the radial drift of particles is interrupted, because such a planet gives the disk a super-Keplerian rotation just outside of its own orbit. From this result, we propose that the precursor of Jupiter achieved this threshold mass when the snowline was still around 3 AU. This effectively fossilized the snowline at that location. In fact, even if it cooled later, the disk inside of Jupiter's orbit remained ice-depleted because the flow of icy particles from the outer system was intercepted by the planet. This scenario predicts that planetary systems without giant planets should be much more rich in water in their inner regions than our system. We also show that the inner edge of the planetesimal disk at 0.7 AU, required in terrestrial planet formation models to explain the small mass of Mercury and the absence of planets inside of its orbit, could be due to the silicate condensation line, fossilized at the end of the phase of streaming instability that generated the planetesimal seeds. Thus, when the disk cooled, silicate particles started to drift inwards of 0.7. AU without being sublimated, but they could not be accreted by any pre-existing planetesimals.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cosmochemistry, Origin, Solar System, Planetesimals, Solar Nebula
in
Icarus
volume
267
pages
9 pages
publisher
Academic Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84955092255
ISSN
0019-1035
DOI
10.1016/j.icarus.2015.11.027
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
64847995-1333-482f-991c-732e0cb24468
date added to LUP
2019-05-22 18:54:44
date last changed
2024-04-16 09:14:29
@article{64847995-1333-482f-991c-732e0cb24468,
  abstract     = {{<p>The terrestrial planets and the asteroids dominant in the inner asteroid belt are water poor. However, in the protoplanetary disk the temperature should have decreased below water-condensation level well before the disk was photo-evaporated. Thus, the global water depletion of the inner Solar System is puzzling. We show that, even if the inner disk becomes cold, there cannot be direct condensation of water. This is because the snowline moves towards the Sun more slowly than the gas itself. Thus the gas in the vicinity of the snowline always comes from farther out, where it should have already condensed, and therefore it should be dry. The appearance of ice in a range of heliocentric distances swept by the snowline can only be due to the radial drift of icy particles from the outer disk. However, if a planet with a mass larger than 20 Earth mass is present, the radial drift of particles is interrupted, because such a planet gives the disk a super-Keplerian rotation just outside of its own orbit. From this result, we propose that the precursor of Jupiter achieved this threshold mass when the snowline was still around 3 AU. This effectively fossilized the snowline at that location. In fact, even if it cooled later, the disk inside of Jupiter's orbit remained ice-depleted because the flow of icy particles from the outer system was intercepted by the planet. This scenario predicts that planetary systems without giant planets should be much more rich in water in their inner regions than our system. We also show that the inner edge of the planetesimal disk at 0.7 AU, required in terrestrial planet formation models to explain the small mass of Mercury and the absence of planets inside of its orbit, could be due to the silicate condensation line, fossilized at the end of the phase of streaming instability that generated the planetesimal seeds. Thus, when the disk cooled, silicate particles started to drift inwards of 0.7. AU without being sublimated, but they could not be accreted by any pre-existing planetesimals.</p>}},
  author       = {{Morbidelli, A. and Bitsch, B. and Crida, A. and Gounelle, M. and Guillot, T. and Jacobson, S. and Johansen, A. and Lambrechts, M. and Lega, E.}},
  issn         = {{0019-1035}},
  keywords     = {{Cosmochemistry; Origin, Solar System; Planetesimals; Solar Nebula}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  pages        = {{368--376}},
  publisher    = {{Academic Press}},
  series       = {{Icarus}},
  title        = {{Fossilized condensation lines in the Solar System protoplanetary disk}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2015.11.027}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.icarus.2015.11.027}},
  volume       = {{267}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}