Global Modeling of Nebulae with Particle Growth, Drift and Evaporation Fronts. I: Methodology and Typical Results

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive model of particle growth, drift, and evaporation in protoplanetary nebulae, revealing how these processes influence nebula structure, composition, and planet formation over 200,000 years.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combined modeling approach for small and large particles, including evaporation fronts, and explores their impact on nebula evolution and planetesimal formation.

Findings

Mass transfer from outer to inner nebula creates radial solid concentrations.

Particle sizes are limited by fragmentation, bouncing, and drift.

Enrichment of nebula regions in volatiles occurs near evaporation fronts.

Abstract

We model particle growth in a turbulent, viscously evolving protoplanetary nebula, incorporating sticking, bouncing, fragmentation, and mass transfer at high speeds. We treat small particles using a moments method and large particles using a traditional histogram binning, including a probability distribution function of collisional velocities. The fragmentation strength of the particles depends on their composition (icy aggregates are stronger than silicate aggregates). The particle opacity, which controls the nebula thermal structure, evolves as particles grow and mass redistributes. While growing, particles drift radially due to nebula headwind drag. Particles of different compositions evaporate at "evaporation fronts" (EFs) where the midplane temperature exceeds their respective evaporation temperatures. We track the vapor and solid phases of each component, accounting for advection and radial and vertical diffusion. We present characteristic results in evolutions lasting $2 \times 10^5$ years. In general, (a) mass is transferred from the outer to inner nebula in significant amounts, creating radial concentrations of solids at EFs, (b) particle sizes are limited by a combination of fragmentation, bouncing, and drift, (c) "lucky" large particles never represent a significant amount of mass, and (d) restricted radial zones just outside each EF become compositionally enriched in the associated volatiles. We point out implications for mm-submm SEDs and inference of nebula mass, radial banding, the role of opacity on new mechanisms for generating turbulence, enrichment of meteorites in heavy oxygen isotopes, variable and nonsolar redox conditions, primary accretion of silicate and icy planetesimals, and the makeup of Jupiter's core.