Testing the Icy Pebble Accretion Hypothesis with Primordial Main Belt Asteroids

TL;DR

This study investigates whether in-situ pebble accretion can explain the volatile compositions of large main-belt asteroids, providing insights into Solar System evolution and the origin of volatiles in these bodies.

Contribution

It models pebble accretion processes with varying disk parameters to assess volatile delivery to asteroids, linking asteroid composition to early Solar System dynamics.

Findings

Moderate pebble flux enables volatile delivery without overgrowth.

Water accretion feasible with pebble Stokes number ~10^{-3}.

Ammonia accretion possible for large asteroids with smaller pebbles (~10^{-4} St).

Abstract

Large main-belt asteroids (diameter $D \gtrsim 120\ \mathrm{km}$) exhibit a surface composition gradient as a function of heliocentric distance, ranging from anhydrous bodies to those rich in hydrated and, possibly, ammoniated materials. Their primordial nature holds key clues to the evolution of the Solar System. It has been suggested that the volatile-rich bodies formed in the outer Solar System and were implanted into the main belt. Alternatively, volatiles may have been delivered via inward-drifting icy pebbles in the protosolar disk. Here, we examine whether in-situ formed rocky embryos can acquire volatiles through pebble accretion as the snowline migrated inward. With the turbulence strength of the disk, radial pebble flux, and the dimensionless stopping time of pebbles (St) as parameters, we calculate the growth of large asteroids. The results are then compared with mass and compositional constraints based on asteroid observations. We find that a moderate pebble flux ($\lesssim18~M_\oplus / \text{Myr}$) is required to enable volatile delivery while preventing the largest asteroids from becoming more massive than Ceres. Water accretion is feasible with $\mathrm{St} \sim 10^{-3}$ ($\sim 1$ mm). However, only the largest asteroids (D > 200 km) can accumulate sufficient ammonia under such conditions. For most asteroids with D between 100 and 200 km, ammonia ice accretion requires $\mathrm{St} \sim 10^{-4}$ ($\sim 100\,\mu$m). Such small particle sizes may pose both theoretical and observational challenges. Thus, we propose that the intermediate-sized, potentially ammonia-bearing asteroids serve as a record of the Solar System's dynamic evolution.