Can chondrules be produced by the interaction of Jupiter with the protosolar disk?

TL;DR

This study explores whether shocks from a massive planet like Jupiter could produce the high-temperature flash heating necessary for chondrule formation in the early solar system, using high-resolution simulations with various disk models.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Jupiter-mass planets in more massive disks can generate conditions suitable for chondrule formation through shock heating, highlighting a potential planetary influence on early solar system processes.

Findings

Jupiter-mass planets can produce sufficient shock heating in massive disks.

Vortices formed by gap-opening planets can trap dust and concentrate chondrule precursors.

Shock heating conditions depend on disk mass, cooling rates, and planet properties.

Abstract

Chondrules are crystallised droplets of silicates formed by rapid heating to high temperatures (> 1800 K) of solid precursors followed by hours or days of cooling. Dating of chondrules is consistent with the formation timescale of Jupiter in the core-accretion model (1-4 Myrs). Here we investigate if the shocks generated by a massive planet could generate flash heating episodes necessary to form chondrules using high resolution 2D simulations with the multi-fluid code ROSSBI. We use different radiative cooling prescriptions, i.e. different cooling rates and models, and vary planet mass, orbit and disk models. For long disk cooling rates (> 1000 orbits) and a massive protoplanet (> 0.75 jupiter masses), we obtain hot enough temperatures for chondrule formation, while using more realistic thermodynamics is not successful in the Minimum Mass Solar Nebula (MMSN) model. However, sufficient flash heating is achieved by a Jupiter mass planet in a 5 times more massive disk, which is a conceivable scenario for the young solar nebula and exoplanetary systems. Interestingly, a gap-forming massive planet triggers vortices, which can trap dust, i.e. chondrule precursors, and generates a high pressure environment that is consistent with cosmochemical evidence from chondrules. A massive gas giant can thus, in principle, both stimulate the concentration of chondrule precursors in the vicinity of the shocking regions, and flash-heat them via the shocks.