Feeding the Circumplanetary Disk: 3D Simulations of Dust Filtration and Accretion in PDS 70 c
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: How circumplanetary disks (CPDs) capture and retain solids is central to constraining the timescale for formation of rocky satellites and interpreting submillimeter continuum observations around giant planets. Here, we investigate the transport of gas and dust from the circumstellar disk into the CPD, using PDS 70 as our fiducial example. Based on observation-driven parameters, we perform high-resolution 3D adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamic simulations including a multifluid dust component to study dust accretion onto planets with masses of 1 $M_\mathrm{J}$ and 2.5 $M_\mathrm{J}$. We find that the pressure maximum at the gap edge imposes strong, size-dependent dust filtration, drastically lowering the solid content of the accreting flow. The net dust-to-gas mass ratio of the material accreting onto the planet is reduced by roughly two orders of magnitude relative to the outer disk. Only small grains ($\lesssim 61 μ$m for the 1 $M_\mathrm{J}$ case and $\lesssim 10 μ$m for the 2.5 $M_\mathrm{J}$ case) are able to accrete efficiently onto the CPD. Despite this filtering, we show that a continuous inflow of small grains can still deliver sufficient mass to build the observed PDS 70 c CPD or a Galilean-like satellite system within a few million years. Because more massive planets more effectively prevent the accretion of large grains, the dust that reaches the CPD is dominated by small particles with low millimeter-wave opacities. Consequently, in the absence of grain growth, interpreting millimeter continuum measurements of CPDs around massive giant planets may require invoking larger total dust masses than typically assumed.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: Rice University, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Language: English
Topic: Astro and Planetary Science
Subfield: Space and Planetary Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1017065088, G1279347439, G1448047794, G1787117236, G2356915424, G2495227331, GUIDING QUESTION: HOW TO ACQUIRE SUSTAIN AND NURTURE LIFE-ESSENTIAL CHEMICAL INGREDIENTS ON THE SURFACE OF ROCKY PLANETS? BUILDING A HABITABLE ENVIRONMENT ON INNER SOLAR SYSTEM ROCKY SURFACES REQUIRES THE LIFE-ESSENTIAL CHEMICAL INGREDIENTS (C N O H S AND P) TO JOURNEY THROUGH A SERIES OF ASTRONOMICAL PLANETARY GEOLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES DURING PLANET FORMATION AND EARLY PLANETARY EVOLUTION. HOWEVER IN MOST STUDIES ONLY ONE OR FEW OF THESE STEPS ARE INVESTIGATED IN ISOLATION AS CONDITIONS OF HABITABILITY AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF MULTIPLE PATHWAYS THAT MAY BE FEASIBLE ARE NOT RIGOROUSLY EXPLORED. SIMILARLY MOST STUDIES TRACKING THE IMPACT OF PREBIOTIC PROCESSES CONSIDERED THE ORIGIN OF WATER ALONE AND COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES ON A COMBINATION OF LIFE-ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS ARE LACKING. IN ORDER TO EVALUATE THE PATHWAYS THAT MAY LEAD TO EARLY HABITABLE CONDITIONS IN MULTIPLE PLANETARY SURFACES BUT SUSTENANCE ONLY IN A SUBSET AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO STUDY THE EARLY CYCLES OF ALL KEY INGREDIENTS ARE NECESSARY. THIS CAN 8 NAI NODE PROPOSAL AIMS TO CONSTRAIN THE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD TO THE ACQUISITION SUSTENANCE AND NURTURING OF THE LIFE-ESSENTIAL CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AT THE SURFACE AND NEAR-SURFACE ENVIRONMENTS OF ROCKY DIFFERENTIATED PLANETARY BODIES LEADING TO HABITABILITY AND POTENTIALLY DRIVING THE FORMATION OF PREBIOTICALLY-RELEVANT ORGANIC MOLECULE PRECURSORS WITHIN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS OF A PLANET S EVOLUTION. OUR TEAM MEMBERS BRING EXTENSIVE EXPERTISE IN ASTROPHYSICS GEOLOGY GEOCHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS FLUID AND ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS CLIMATE SCIENCE AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; AN OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO TRACE THE LIFE-ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FROM PROTOPLANETARY DISKS TO EARLY PREBIOTIC MOLECULES ON THE SURFACES OF ROCKY PLANETS WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THE FEEDBACKS AMONG INTERIOR SURFACE AND ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES. WE WILL USE OBSERVATIONS FROM OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM IN TERMS OF COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY BUT WILL ALSO CONSTRUCT POSSIBLE PATHWAYS THAT MAY LEAD TO THERMO-CHEMICAL HABITABILITY WHICH CAN BE UTILIZED FOR EXPLORATION OF OTHER SOLAR SYSTEMS IN SEARCH FOR LIFE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH COMPLEMENTS THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CAN 7 TEAMS BECAUSE NONE OF THE CURRENT TEAMS ARE INVESTIGATING THE CYCLES OF THE KEY INGREDIENTS DURING DIFFERENTIATION AND EARLY TECTONO-MAGMATIC AND GEOCHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF ROCKY PLANETS. OUR PROPOSAL WILL BRING IN THE UNIQUE INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE OF CYCLES OF KEY INGREDIENTS OF LIFE THROUGH DEEP TIME FROM GEOLOGIC PLANETARY GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL PERSPECTIVES. GIVEN THE INTERDEPENDENT NATURE OF THE PROPOSED ACTIVITIES AMONG SEEMINGLY DISPARATE FIELDS OF RESEARCH THE SCOPE OF THIS PROPOSAL CAN ONLY BE SUPPORTED THROUGH AN INSTITUTE WITHOUT WALLS . RELEVANCE TO THE GOALS OF THE ASTROBIOLOGY PROGRAM: THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS RELEVANT FOR SEVERAL OF THE GOALS OF THE ASTROBIOLOGY PROGRAM AS OUTLINED IN THE 2015 STRATEGY INCLUDING THE CENTRAL THEMES OF CONSTRUCTING HABITABLE WORLDS AND IDENTIFYING EXPLORING AND CHARACTERIZING ENVIRONMENTS FOR HABITABILITY AND BIOSIGNATURES . OUR PROPOSAL WILL DIRECTLY ADDRESS QUESTIONS SUCH AS HOW DOES THE STORY OF EARTH IN PARTICULAR IT S PAST INFORM US ABOUT HOW THE CLIMATES ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITIONS INTERIORS AND BIOSPHERES OF PLANETS CAN CO-EVOLVE? BECAUSE OUR TEAM WILL STUDY THE INTERACTIONS OF INTERIOR ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE IN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS OF A ROCKY PLANETS EVOLUTION KEEPING IN MIND THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH AS AN ANALOG. OUR PROPOSAL WILL ALSO DIRECTLY ADDRESS QUESTIONS SUCH AS WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENTS AND PROCESSES THAT DEFINE A HABITABLE ENVIRONMENT? BECAUSE WE WILL TRACK THE FATE OF THE LIFE-ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS THROUGH THE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES OF PLANET FORMATION AND EARLY GEOLOGIC AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL EVOLUTION WITH THE GOAL OF OUTLINING POSSIBLE PATHS THAT ARE OR ARE NOT FAVORABLE IN FINALLY HARBORING THE COHNSP SPECIES AT THE PLANETARY SURFACES., G6410514744, G6563880843
OpenAlex ID: W7214028764