Nitrogen Loss from Pluto's Birth to the Present Day via Atmospheric Escape, Photochemical Destruction, and Impact Erosion

TL;DR

This study estimates Pluto's nitrogen loss over its history, considering atmospheric escape, photochemical destruction, and impacts, concluding that most volatiles are retained and present-day rates underestimate total loss.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive model of nitrogen loss from Pluto, integrating orbital migration, thermal history, and impact effects, highlighting the importance of early high-radiation periods.

Findings

Pluto's nitrogen loss during the Wild Years was about 10 meters of global equivalent layer.

Photochemical destruction during early high UV radiation increased loss rates but contributed only a small fraction to total loss.

Impacts during migration contributed nitrogen, acting as a net source rather than a sink.

Abstract

We estimate the loss of nitrogen from Pluto over its lifetime, including the giant planet instability period, which we term the "Wild Years." We analyze the orbital migration of 53 simulated Plutinos, which are Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) captured into 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Neptune during the instability. This orbital migration brought the Plutinos from 20 to 30 au to their present-day orbits near 40 au along a nonlinear path that includes orbits with semimajor axes from 10 to 100 au. We model the thermal history that results from this migration and estimate the volatile loss rates due to the ever-changing thermal environment. Due to the early Sun's enhanced ultraviolet radiation, the photochemical destruction rate during the Wild Years was a factor of 100 higher than the present-day rate, but this only results in a loss of ~10 m global equivalent layer (GEL). The enhanced Jeans escape rate varies wildly with time, and a net loss of ~100 cm GEL is predicted. Additionally, we model the impact history during the migration and find that impacts are a net source, not loss, of N2, contributing ~100 cm GEL. The 100 cm GEL is 0.1% of the amount of N2 in Sputnik Planitia. We therefore conclude that Pluto did not lose an excessive amount of volatiles during the Wild Years, and its primordial volatile inventory can be approximated as its present-day inventory. However, significant fractions of this small total loss of N2 occurred during the Wild Years, so estimates made using present-day rates will be underestimates.