Three-dimensional transport of solids in a protoplanetary disk containing a growing giant planet

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations combined with particle tracking to explore how small dust particles are transported in a protoplanetary disk with a growing giant planet, revealing complex mixing processes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combined hydrodynamic and particle tracking approach to analyze dust transport in 3D disks with embedded planets, highlighting the role of gas advection and disk viscosity.

Findings

Gas advection can carry small solids across planetary gaps.

Inner and outer disk mixing occurs in both directions.

Low viscosity disks can preserve isotopic heterogeneities.

Abstract

We present the results of combined hydrodynamic and particle tracking post-processing modeling to study the transport of small dust in a protoplanetary disk containing an embedded embryo in 3D. We use a suite of FARGO3D hydrodynamic simulations of disks containing a planetary embryo varying in mass up to 300 $M_\oplus$ on a fixed orbit in both high and low viscosity disks. We then simulate solid particles through the disk as a post-processing step using a Monte Carlo integration, allowing us to track the trajectories of individual particles as they travel throughout the disk. We find that gas advection onto the planet can carry small, well-coupled solids across the gap opened in the disk by the embedded planet for planetary masses above the pebble isolation mass. This mixing between the inner and outer disk can occur in both directions, with solids in the inner disk mixing to the outer disk as well. Additionally, in low viscosity disks, multiple pile-ups in the outer disk may preserve isotopic heterogeneities, possibly providing an outermost tertiary isotopic reservoir. Throughout Jupiter's growth, the extent of mixing between isotopic reservoirs varied depending on dust size, gas turbulence, and the Jovian embryo mass.