Particle transport in evolving protoplanetary disks: Implications for results from Stardust

TL;DR

This study models particle transport in evolving protoplanetary disks to explain the presence of crystalline silicates in comets, highlighting the importance of disk evolution and turbulence in outward particle movement.

Contribution

It introduces time-dependent disk models with varying diffusivity to better understand particle transport and constraints from Stardust observations.

Findings

High diffusivity (Sc<1) enables particles up to 20 microns to move outward.

Models with Sc>1 require particles to settle in a midplane layer for outward transport.

Outward transport efficiency declines rapidly over time, mainly during early disk evolution.

Abstract

Samples returned from comet 81P/Wild 2 by Stardust confirm that substantial quantities of crystalline silicates were incorporated into the comet at formation. We investigate the constraints that this observation places upon protoplanetary disk physics, assuming that outward transport of particles processed at high temperatures occurs via advection and turbulent diffusion in an evolving disk. We also look for constraints on particle formation locations. Our results are based upon 1D disk models that evolve with time under the action of viscosity and photoevaporation, and track solid transport using an ensemble of individual particle trajectories. We find that two classes of disk model are consistent with the Stardust findings. One class features a high particle diffusivity (a Schmidt number Sc < 1), which suffices to diffuse particles up to 20 microns in size outward against the mean gas flow. For Sc > 1, such models are unlikely to be viable, and significant outward transport requires that the particles of interest settle into a midplane layer that experiences an outward gas flow. In either class of models, the mass of inner disk material that reaches the outer disk is a strong function of the disk's initial compactness. Hence, models of grain transport within steady-state disks underestimate the efficiency of outward transport. Neither model results in sustained outward transport of very large particles exceeding a mm in size. We show that the transport efficiency generally falls off rapidly with time. Hence, high-temperature material must be rapidly incorporated into icy bodies to avoid fallback, and significant radial transport may only occur during the initial phase of rapid disk evolution. It may also vary substantially between disks depending upon their initial mass distributions. We discuss implications for Spitzer observations of crystalline silicates in T Tauri disks.