Detailed Calculations of the Efficiency of Planetesimal Accretion in the Core-Accretion Model

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed calculation of planetesimal accretion rates during Jupiter's formation, revealing that most mass is accreted during rapid gas accretion and that accretion continues afterward, affecting Jupiter's composition.

Contribution

It introduces a new code combining three-body trajectories with gas drag, showing accretion rates are largely independent of planetesimal size and composition, and revises previous accretion estimates.

Findings

Most mass accreted during rapid gas infall

Accretion rate remains small but non-zero after rapid growth

Late accretion may explain high-Z material in Jupiter's envelope

Abstract

We present results of a detailed study of the rate of the accretion of planetesimals by a growing proto-Jupiter in the core-accretion model. Using a newly developed code, we accurately combine a detailed three-body trajectory calculation with gas drag experienced during the passage of planetesimals in the protoplanet's envelope. We find that the motion of planetesimals is excited to the extent that encounters with the proto-planetary envelope become so fast that ram pressure breaks up the planetesimals in most encounters. As a result, the accretion rate is largely independent of the planetesimal size and composition. For the case we explored of a planet forming at 5.2 AU from the Sun in a disk with a solid surface density of 6 g/cm^2 (Lozovsky et al. 2017) the accretion rate we compute differs in several respects from that assumed by those authors. We find that only 4-5 M_Earth is accreted in the first 1.5x10^6 years before the onset of rapid gas accretion. Most of the mass, some 10 M_Earth, is accreted simultaneously with this rapid gas accretion. In addition, we find that the mass accretion rate remains small, but non-zero for at least a million years after this point, and an additional 0.3-0.4 M_Earth is accreted during that time. This late accretion, together with a rapid infall of gas could lead to the accreted material being mixed throughout the outer regions, and may account for the enhancement of high-Z material in Jupiter's envelope.