Formation of Cosmic Crystals in Highly-Supersaturated Silicate Vapor Produced by Planetesimal Bow Shocks

TL;DR

This study models how silicate vapor produced by planetesimal bow shocks rapidly cools and condenses, potentially forming cosmic crystals and chondrules observed in meteorites, through nonequilibrium processes.

Contribution

It demonstrates that rapid, nonequilibrium cooling from bow shock-heated vapor can produce silicate crystals with morphologies similar to those in meteorites, offering a new formation mechanism.

Findings

Silicate particles evaporate almost completely in strong bow shocks.

Rapid cooling rates (up to 2000 K/s) cause supercooling and non-equilibrium condensation.

Condensation occurs at lower temperatures than equilibrium predictions.

Abstract

Several lines of evidence suggest that fine silicate crystals observed in primitive meteorite and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) nucleated in a supersaturated silicate vapor followed by crystalline growth. We investigated evaporation of $\mu$m-sized silicate particles heated by a bow shock produced by a planetesimal orbiting in the gas in the early solar nebula and condensation of crystalline silicate from the vapor thus produced. Our numerical simulation of shock-wave heating showed that these {\mu}m-sized particles evaporated almost completely when the bow shock is strong enough to cause melting of chondrule precursor dust particles. We found that the silicate vapor cools very rapidly with expansion into the ambient unshocked nebular region; the cooling rate is estimated, for instance, to be as high as 2000 K s$^{-1}$ for a vapor heated by a bow shock associated with a planetesimal of radius 1 km. The rapid cooling of the vapor leads to nonequilibrium gas-phase condensation of dust at temperatures much lower than those expected from the equilibrium condensation. It was found that the condensation temperatures are lower by a few hundred K or more than the equilibrium temperatures. This explains the results of the recent experimental studies of condensation from a silicate vapor that condensation in such large supercooling reproduces morphologies similar to those of silicate crystals found in meteorites. Our results suggest strongly that the planetesimal bow shock is one of the plausible sites for formation of not only chondrules but also other cosmic crystals in the early solar system.