Unified simulations of planetary formation and atmospheric evolution II: Rapid disk clearing by photoevaporation yields low-mass super-Earth atmospheres

TL;DR

This study models how rapid disk clearing by photoevaporation during planetary formation prevents super-Earths from developing massive atmospheres, explaining their observed low-mass H₂/He atmospheres.

Contribution

It provides a unified simulation framework incorporating photoevaporative and magnetically driven disk winds to explain super-Earth atmospheric properties.

Findings

Rapid disk dissipation limits atmospheric accretion.

Delayed runaway gas accretion prevents massive atmospheres.

Post-disk clearing impacts atmosphere erosion through embryo collisions.

Abstract

Super-Earths possess low-mass H$_2$/He atmospheres (typically less than 10% by mass). However, the origins of super-Earth atmospheres have not yet been ascertained. We investigate the role of rapid disk clearing by photoevaporation during the formation of super-Earths and their atmospheres. We perform unified simulations of super-Earth formation and atmospheric evolution in evolving disks that consider both photoevaporative winds and magnetically driven disk winds. For the growth mode of planetary cores, we consider two cases in which planetary embryos grow with and without pebble accretion. Our main findings are summarized as follows. (i) The time span of atmospheric accretion is shortened by rapid disk dissipation due to photoevaporation, which prevents super-Earth cores from accreting massive atmospheres. (ii) Even if planetary cores grow rapidly by embryo accretion in the case without pebble accretion, the onset of runaway gas accretion is delayed because the isolation mass for embryo accretion is small. Together with rapid disk clearing, the accretion of massive atmospheres can be avoided. (iii) After rapid disk clearing, a number of high-eccentricity embryos can remain in outer orbits. Thereafter, such embryos may collide with the super-Earths, leading to efficient impact erosion of accreted atmospheres. We, therefore, find that super-Earths with low-mass H$_2$/He atmospheres are naturally produced by N-body simulations that consider realistic disk evolution.