Pebble Delivery for Inside-Out Planet Formation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how pebbles drift and grow in protoplanetary disks, supporting the Inside-Out Planet Formation scenario that explains tightly packed inner planetary systems.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of pebble delivery and growth at the dead zone inner boundary in IOPF models, advancing understanding of planet formation processes.

Findings

Pebble drift rates depend on disk properties.

Pebble growth can lead to planet formation at the DZIB.

Radial drift supplies sufficient material for planet building.

Abstract

Inside-Out Planet Formation (IOPF; Chatterjee & Tan 2014, hereafter CT14) is a scenario for sequential in situ planet formation at the pressure traps of retreating dead zone inner boundaries (DZIBs) motivated to explain the many systems with tightly packed inner planets (STIPs) discovered by Kepler. The scenario involves build-up of a pebble-dominated protoplanetary ring, supplied by radial drift of pebbles from the outer disk. It may also involve further build-up of planetary masses to gap-opening scales via continued pebble accretion. Here we study radial drift & growth of pebbles delivered to the DZIB in fiducial IOPF disk models.