Separating gas-giant and ice-giant planets by halting pebble accretion

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model where pebble accretion halts at a certain core mass, explaining why gas giants and ice giants differ in composition and how their formation occurs within protoplanetary discs.

Contribution

It introduces a self-limiting pebble accretion mechanism that accounts for the formation and compositional differences of giant planets.

Findings

Pebble accretion halts when a core carves a gap in the pebble disc.

Ice giants do not reach the critical mass for rapid gas envelope collapse.

Outer planetary system regions favor formation of ice giants over gas giants.

Abstract

In the Solar System giant planets come in two flavours: 'gas giants' (Jupiter and Saturn) with massive gas envelopes and 'ice giants' (Uranus and Neptune) with much thinner envelopes around their cores. It is poorly understood how these two classes of planets formed. High solid accretion rates, necessary to form the cores of giant planets within the life-time of protoplanetary discs, heat the envelope and prevent rapid gas contraction onto the core, unless accretion is halted. We find that, in fact, accretion of pebbles (~ cm-sized particles) is self-limiting: when a core becomes massive enough it carves a gap in the pebble disc. This halt in pebble accretion subsequently triggers the rapid collapse of the super-critical gas envelope. As opposed to gas giants, ice giants do not reach this threshold mass and can only bind low-mass envelopes that are highly enriched by water vapour from sublimated icy pebbles. This offers an explanation for the compositional difference between gas giants and ice giants in the Solar System. Furthermore, as opposed to planetesimal-driven accretion scenarios, our model allows core formation and envelope attraction within disc life-times, provided that solids in protoplanetary discs are predominantly in pebbles. Our results imply that the outer regions of planetary systems, where the mass required to halt pebble accretion is large, are dominated by ice giants and that gas-giant exoplanets in wide orbits are enriched by more than 50 Earth masses of solids.