Chemical footprints of giant planet formation. Role of planet accretion in shaping the C/O ratio of protoplanetary disks

TL;DR

This paper explores how accreting giant planets influence the chemical composition of protoplanetary disks, particularly the C/O ratio, by simulating local heating and sublimation effects that can explain observed molecular emission rings.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking giant planet accretion to chemical signatures in disks, explaining observed ALMA emission rings through local C/O ratio enhancements.

Findings

Accreting planets can create local chemical footprints in disks.

Elevated C/O ratios can explain C$_2$H emission rings.

The model accounts for observed features in the MWC480 disk.

Abstract

Protoplanetary disks, the birthplaces of planets, commonly feature bright rings and dark gaps in both continuum and line emission maps. Accreting planets are interacting with the disk, not only through gravity, but also by changing the local irradiation and elemental abundances, which are essential ingredients for disk chemistry. We propose that giant planet accretion can leave chemical footprints in the gas local to the planet, which potentially leads to the spatial coincidence of molecular emissions with the planet in ALMA observation. Through 2D multi-fluid hydrodynamical simulations in Athena++ with built-in sublimation, we simulate the process of an accreting planet locally heating up its vicinity, opening a gas gap in the disk, and creating the conditions for C-photochemistry. An accreting planet located outside the methane snowline can render the surrounding gas hot enough to sublimate the C-rich organics off pebbles before they are accreted by the planet. This locally elevates the disk gas-phase C/O ratio, providing a potential explanation for the C$_2$H line-emission rings observed with ALMA. In particular, our findings provide an explanation for the MWC480 disk, where previous work has identified a statistically significant spatial coincidence of line-emission rings inside a continuum gap. Our findings present a novel view of linking the gas accretion of giant planets and their natal disks through the chemistry signals. This model demonstrates that giant planets can actively shape their forming chemical environment, moving beyond the traditional understanding of the direct mapping of primordial disk chemistry onto planets.