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Planet formation throughout the Milky Way : Planet populations in the context of Galactic chemical evolution

Nielsen, Jesper ; Gent, Matthew Raymond ; Bergemann, Maria ; Eitner, Philipp and Johansen, Anders LU (2023) In Astronomy and Astrophysics 678.
Abstract

As stellar compositions evolve over time in the Milky Way, so will the resulting planet populations. In order to place planet formation in the context of Galactic chemical evolution, we made use of a large (N = 5325) stellar sample representing the thin and thick discs, defined chemically, and the halo, and we simulated planet formation by pebble accretion around these stars. We built a chemical model of their protoplanetary discs, taking into account the relevant chemical transitions between vapour and refractory minerals, in order to track the resulting compositions of formed planets. We find that the masses of our synthetic planets increase on average with increasing stellar metallicity [Fe/H] and that giant planets and super-Earths... (More)

As stellar compositions evolve over time in the Milky Way, so will the resulting planet populations. In order to place planet formation in the context of Galactic chemical evolution, we made use of a large (N = 5325) stellar sample representing the thin and thick discs, defined chemically, and the halo, and we simulated planet formation by pebble accretion around these stars. We built a chemical model of their protoplanetary discs, taking into account the relevant chemical transitions between vapour and refractory minerals, in order to track the resulting compositions of formed planets. We find that the masses of our synthetic planets increase on average with increasing stellar metallicity [Fe/H] and that giant planets and super-Earths are most common around thin-disc (α-poor) stars since these stars have an overall higher budget of solid particles. Giant planets are found to be very rare (≲1%) around thick-disc (α-rich) stars and nearly non-existent around halo stars. This indicates that the planet population is more diverse for more metal-rich stars in the thin disc. Water-rich planets are less common around low-metallicity stars since their low metallicity prohibits efficient growth beyond the water ice line. If we allow water to oxidise iron in the protoplanetary disc, this results in decreasing core mass fractions with increasing [Fe/H]. Excluding iron oxidation from our condensation model instead results in higher core mass fractions, in better agreement with the core-mass fraction of Earth, that increase with increasing [Fe/H]. Our work demonstrates how the Galactic chemical evolution and stellar parameters, such as stellar mass and chemical composition, can shape the resulting planet population.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Planets and satellites: composition, Planets and satellites: formation, Stars: abundances
in
Astronomy and Astrophysics
volume
678
article number
A74
publisher
EDP Sciences
external identifiers
  • scopus:85175021349
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202346697
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
53cea0f1-2c4f-4ad3-906c-c4d88a136c64
date added to LUP
2024-01-12 08:53:40
date last changed
2024-01-12 08:56:00
@article{53cea0f1-2c4f-4ad3-906c-c4d88a136c64,
  abstract     = {{<p>As stellar compositions evolve over time in the Milky Way, so will the resulting planet populations. In order to place planet formation in the context of Galactic chemical evolution, we made use of a large (N = 5325) stellar sample representing the thin and thick discs, defined chemically, and the halo, and we simulated planet formation by pebble accretion around these stars. We built a chemical model of their protoplanetary discs, taking into account the relevant chemical transitions between vapour and refractory minerals, in order to track the resulting compositions of formed planets. We find that the masses of our synthetic planets increase on average with increasing stellar metallicity [Fe/H] and that giant planets and super-Earths are most common around thin-disc (α-poor) stars since these stars have an overall higher budget of solid particles. Giant planets are found to be very rare (≲1%) around thick-disc (α-rich) stars and nearly non-existent around halo stars. This indicates that the planet population is more diverse for more metal-rich stars in the thin disc. Water-rich planets are less common around low-metallicity stars since their low metallicity prohibits efficient growth beyond the water ice line. If we allow water to oxidise iron in the protoplanetary disc, this results in decreasing core mass fractions with increasing [Fe/H]. Excluding iron oxidation from our condensation model instead results in higher core mass fractions, in better agreement with the core-mass fraction of Earth, that increase with increasing [Fe/H]. Our work demonstrates how the Galactic chemical evolution and stellar parameters, such as stellar mass and chemical composition, can shape the resulting planet population.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nielsen, Jesper and Gent, Matthew Raymond and Bergemann, Maria and Eitner, Philipp and Johansen, Anders}},
  issn         = {{0004-6361}},
  keywords     = {{Planets and satellites: composition; Planets and satellites: formation; Stars: abundances}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{EDP Sciences}},
  series       = {{Astronomy and Astrophysics}},
  title        = {{Planet formation throughout the Milky Way : Planet populations in the context of Galactic chemical evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202346697}},
  doi          = {{10.1051/0004-6361/202346697}},
  volume       = {{678}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}