Quasi-static contraction during runaway gas accretion onto giant planets. (arXiv:1907.06362v1 [astro-ph.EP])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lambrechts_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michiel Lambrechts</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lega_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Elena Lega</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Nelson_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Richard P. Nelson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Crida_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Aurélien Crida</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Morbidelli_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alessandro Morbidelli</a>
Gas-giant planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, acquire massive gaseous envelopes
during the approximately 3 Myr-long lifetimes of protoplanetary discs. In the
core accretion scenario, the formation of a solid core of around 10 Earth
masses triggers a phase of rapid gas accretion. Previous 3D grid-based
hydrodynamical simulations found runaway gas accretion rates corresponding to
approximately 10 to 100 Jupiter masses per Myr. Such high accretion rates would
result in all planets with larger-than-10-Earth-mass cores forming Jupiter-like
planets, in clear contrast to the ice giants in the Solar System and the
observed exoplanet population. In this work, we use 3D hydrodynamical
simulations, that include radiative transfer, to model the growth of the
envelope on planets with different masses. We find that gas flows rapidly
through the outer part of the envelope, but this flow does not drive accretion.
Instead, gas accretion is the result of quasi-static contraction of the inner
envelope, which can be orders of magnitude smaller than the mass flow through
the outer atmosphere. For planets smaller than Saturn, we measure moderate gas
accretion rates that are below 1 Jupiter mass per Myr. Higher mass planets,
however, accrete up to 10 times faster and do not reveal a self-driven
mechanism that can halt gas accretion. Therefore, the reason for the final
masses of Saturn and Jupiter remains difficult to understand, unless their
completion coincided with the dissipation of the Solar Nebula.
Gas-giant planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, acquire massive gaseous envelopes
during the approximately 3 Myr-long lifetimes of protoplanetary discs. In the
core accretion scenario, the formation of a solid core of around 10 Earth
masses triggers a phase of rapid gas accretion. Previous 3D grid-based
hydrodynamical simulations found runaway gas accretion rates corresponding to
approximately 10 to 100 Jupiter masses per Myr. Such high accretion rates would
result in all planets with larger-than-10-Earth-mass cores forming Jupiter-like
planets, in clear contrast to the ice giants in the Solar System and the
observed exoplanet population. In this work, we use 3D hydrodynamical
simulations, that include radiative transfer, to model the growth of the
envelope on planets with different masses. We find that gas flows rapidly
through the outer part of the envelope, but this flow does not drive accretion.
Instead, gas accretion is the result of quasi-static contraction of the inner
envelope, which can be orders of magnitude smaller than the mass flow through
the outer atmosphere. For planets smaller than Saturn, we measure moderate gas
accretion rates that are below 1 Jupiter mass per Myr. Higher mass planets,
however, accrete up to 10 times faster and do not reveal a self-driven
mechanism that can halt gas accretion. Therefore, the reason for the final
masses of Saturn and Jupiter remains difficult to understand, unless their
completion coincided with the dissipation of the Solar Nebula.
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