Inside-Out Planet Formation. VII. Astrochemical Models of Protoplanetary Disks and Implications for Planetary Compositions

TL;DR

This paper models the chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks to understand the compositions of planets formed via Inside-Out Planet Formation, highlighting how disk chemistry and dynamics influence planetary volatile content.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed chemical and physical evolution model of protoplanetary disks specifically for IOPF, linking disk chemistry to planetary compositions.

Findings

Outer disk regions have most C and O in ices, reducing gas-phase CO2 and H2O.

Radial drift enhances volatile abundances at ice-lines, depleting outer dust.

Inner disk gas becomes water-rich with low C/O ratios, affecting planetary atmospheres.

Abstract

Inside-Out Planet Formation (IOPF) proposes that the abundant systems of close-in Super-Earths and Mini-Neptunes form in situ at the pressure maximum associated with the Dead Zone Inner Boundary (DZIB). We present a model of physical and chemical evolution of protoplanetary disk midplanes that follows gas advection, radial drift of pebbles and gas-grain chemistry to predict abundances from 300~au down to the DZIB near 0.2 au. We consider typical disk properties relevant for IOPF, i.e., accretion rates 1E-9 < dM/dt / (Msun/yr) < 1E-8 and viscosity parameter alpha = 1E-4, and evolve for fiducial duration of t = 1E5 years. For outer, cool disk regions, we find that C and up to 90% of O nuclei start locked in CO and O2 ice, which keeps abundances of CO2 and H2O one order of magnitude lower. Radial drift of icy pebbles is influential, with gas-phase abundances of volatiles enhanced up to two orders of magnitude at ice-lines, while the outer disk becomes depleted of dust. Disks with decreasing accretion rates gradually cool, which draws in icelines closer to the star. At <~1 au, advective models yield water-rich gas with C/O ratios <~ 0.1, which may be inherited by atmospheres of planets forming here via IOPF. For planetary interiors built by pebble accretion, IOPF predicts volatile-poor compositions. However, advectively-enhanced volatile mass fractions of ~10% can occur at the water ice line.