C/O ratios in self-gravitating protoplanetary discs with dust evolution

TL;DR

This study models the evolution of C/O ratios in self-gravitating protoplanetary discs, revealing how dust dynamics, phase transitions, and disc substructures influence chemical composition and planet formation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model of gas and ice chemistry in self-gravitating discs, highlighting the impact of dust evolution and substructures on C/O ratios and planet formation triggers.

Findings

Gas and dust substructures affect volatile distribution and C/O ratios.

Distinct C/O ratio ranges differentiate planet formation mechanisms.

Solar system comets have ice-phase C/O ratios of 0.2-0.3.

Abstract

Elemental abundances, particularly the C/O ratio, are seen as a way to connect the composition of planetary atmospheres with planet formation scenario and the disc chemical environment. We model the chemical composition of gas and ices in a self-gravitating disc on timescales of 0.5\,Myr since its formation to study the evolution of C/O ratio due to dust dynamics and growth, and phase transitions of the volatile species. We use the thin-disc hydrodynamic code FEOSAD, which includes disc self-gravity, thermal balance, dust evolution and turbulent diffusion, and treats dust as a dynamically different and evolving component interacting with the gas. It also describes freeze-out, sublimation and advection of four volatile species: H$_2$O, CO$_2$, CH$_4$ and CO. We demonstrate the effect of gas and dust substructures on the distribution of volatiles and C/O ratios, including the formation of multiple snowlines of one species, and point out the anticorrelation between dust-to-gas ratio and total C/O ratio emerging due to the contribution of oxygen-rich ice mantles. We identify time and spatial locations where two distinct trigger mechanisms for planet formation are operating and differentiate them by C/O ratio range: wide range of the C/O ratios of $0-1.4$ for streaming instability, and a much narrower range $0.3-0.6$ for gravitational instability (with the initial value of 0.34). This conclusion is corroborated by observations, showing that transiting exoplanets, which possibly experienced migration through a variety of disc conditions, have significantly larger spread of C/O in comparison with directly imaged exoplanets likely formed in gravitationally unstable outer disk regions. We show that the ice-phase C/O$\approx0.2-0.3$ between the CO, CO$_2$ and CH$_4$ snowlines corresponds to the composition of the Solar system comets, that represent primordial planetesimals.