Maximum Temperatures in Evolving Protoplanetary Discs and Composition of Planetary Building Blocks

TL;DR

This study models the thermal evolution of protoplanetary discs, revealing how initial cloud core properties influence maximum temperatures, which in turn affect planetary building block composition and volatile element depletion.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation linking molecular cloud core properties to disc temperatures, explaining refractory element condensation and volatile depletion patterns in planetary materials.

Findings

Maximum temperature occurs within 0.5 AU of the star.

Median maximum temperature is around 1250 K, mostly below 1500 K.

High initial cloud temperatures or low angular velocities lead to refractory-rich planetesimals.

Abstract

The maximum temperature and radial temperature profile in a protoplanetary disc are important for the condensation of different elements in the disc. We simulate the evolution of a set of protoplanetary discs from the collapse of their progenitor molecular cloud cores as well as the dust decoupling within the discs as they evolve. We show how the initial properties of the cloud cores affect the thermal history of the protoplanetary discs using a simple viscous disc model. Our results show that the maximum midplane temperature in the disc occurs within 0.5 AU. It increases with the initial cloud temperature and decreases with its angular velocity and the viscosity of the disc. From the observed properties of the molecular cloud cores we find the median value of the maximum temperature is around 1250 K, with roughly 90% of them being less than 1500 K - a value that is lower than the 50% condensation temperatures of most refractory elements. Therefore, only cloud cores with high initial temperatures or low angular velocities and/or low viscosities within the planet-forming discs will result in refractory-rich planetesimals. To reproduce the volatile depletion pattern of CM, CO, and CV chondrites and the terrestrial planets in Solar system, one must either have rare properties of the initial molecular cloud cores like high core temperature, or other sources of energy to heat the disc to sufficiently high temperatures. Alternatively, the volatile depletion observed in these chondrites may be inherited from the progenitor molecular cloud.