Effects of Stellar X-ray Photoevaporation on Planetesimal Formation via the Streaming Instability

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that stellar X-ray photoevaporation can trigger planetesimal formation via the streaming instability by creating pressure traps that concentrate dust, especially in disks with certain properties, during late disk dispersal.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism linking stellar X-ray photoevaporation to planetesimal formation through the streaming instability, supported by detailed dust dynamics simulations.

Findings

Pressure maxima induced by X-ray photoevaporation trap dust effectively.

Fiducial model produces 31.4 Earth masses of planetesimals.

Higher disk metallicity and X-ray luminosity enhance planetesimal formation.

Abstract

The formation of planetesimals via the streaming instability (SI) is a crucial step in planet formation, yet its triggering conditions and efficiency are highly sensitive to both disk properties and specific evolutionary processes. We aim to study the planetesimal formation via the SI, driven by the stellar X-ray photoevaporation during the late stages of disk dispersal, and quantify its dependence on key disk and stellar parameters. We use the DustPy code to simulate the dust dynamics including coagulation, fragmentation, and radial drift in a viscously accreting disk undergoing stellar X-ray photoevaporation. Stellar X-rays drive the disk dispersal, opening a cavity at a few au orbital distance and inducing the formation of an associated local pressure maximum. This pressure maximum acts as a trap for radially drifting dust, therefore enhancing the dust density to the critical level required to initiate the streaming instability and the subsequent collapse into planetesimals. The fiducial model produces 31.4 M_\oplus of planetesimals with an initial dust to final planetesimal conversion efficiency of 20.4%. This pathway is most efficient in larger disks with higher metallicities, lower viscosities, higher dust fragmentation threshold velocities, and/or around stars with higher X-ray luminosities. This work demonstrates that stellar X-ray photoevaporation is a robust and feasible mechanism for triggering planetesimal formation via the SI during the final clearing phase of protoplanetary disk evolution.