Spin of protoplanets generated by pebble accretion: Influences of protoplanet-induced gas flow

TL;DR

This study uses hydrodynamical simulations to show that pebble accretion causes protoplanets to spin prograde, with spin speed increasing with planetary mass and orbital radius, potentially reaching breakup speed and influencing planetary formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of how gas flow influences protoplanet spin during pebble accretion, highlighting the conditions leading to rapid, prograde rotation.

Findings

Protoplanets acquire prograde spin regardless of pebble size or headwind speed.

Spin speed increases with planetary mass and orbital radius.

Protoplanets can reach breakup spin speed at certain masses, limiting growth.

Abstract

We investigate the spin state of a protoplanet during the pebble accretion influenced by the gas flow in the gravitational potential of the protoplanet and how it depends on the planetary mass, the headwind speed, the distance from the host star, and the pebble size. We perform nonisothermal three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations in a local frame to obtain the gas flow around the planet. We then numerically integrate three-dimensional orbits of pebbles under the obtained gas flow. Finally, assuming uniform spatial distribution of incoming pebbles, we calculate net spin by summing up specific angular momentum that individual pebbles transfer to the protoplanet at impacts. We find that a protoplanet with the envelope acquires prograde net spin rotation regardless of the planetary mass, the pebble size, and the headwind speed of the gas. This is because accreting pebbles are dragged by the envelope that commonly has prograde rotation. As the planetary mass or orbital radius increases, the envelope is thicker and the prograde rotation is faster, resulting in faster net prograde spin. When the dimensionless thermal mass of the planet, $m = R_{\mathrm{Bondi}} / H$, where $R_{\mathrm{Bondi}}$ and $H$ are the Bondi radius and the disk gas scale height, is larger than a certain critical mass ($m \gtrsim 0.3$ at $0.1 \, \mathrm{au}$ or $m \gtrsim 0.1$ at $1 \, \mathrm{au}$), the spin rotation exceeds the breakup one. The predicted spin frequency reaches the breakup one at the planetary mass $m_{\mathrm{iso,rot}} \sim 0.1 \, (a / 1 \, \mathrm{au})^{-1/2}$ (where $a$ is the orbital radius), suggesting that the protoplanet cannot grow beyond $m_{\mathrm{iso,rot}}$. It is consistent with the Earth's current mass and could help the formation of the Moon by a giant impact on fast-spinning proto-Earth.