Showing posts with label circumplanetary disks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label circumplanetary disks. Show all posts

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks I. – Parameter Study for ALMA

Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks I. – Parameter Study for ALMA
Authors:


Szulágyi et al

Abstract:
We present mock observations of forming planets with ALMA. The possible detections of circumplanetary disks (CPDs) were investigated around planets of Saturn, 1, 3, 5, and 10 Jupiter-masses that are placed at 5.2 AU from their star. The radiative, three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations were then post-processed with RADMC3D and the ALMA Observation Simulator. We found that even though the CPDs are too small to be resolved, they are hot due to the accreting planet in the optically thick limit, therefore the best chance to detect them with continuum observations in this case is at the shortest ALMA wavelengths, such as Band 9 (440 microns). Similar fluxes were found in the case of Saturn and Jupiter-mass planets, as for the 10 MJup gas-giant, due to temperature weighted optical depth effects: when no deep gap is carved, the planet region is blanketed by the optically thick circumstellar disk leading to a less efficient cooling there. A test was made for a 52 AU orbital separation, showed that optically thin CPDs are also detectable in band 7 but they need longer integration times (>5hrs). Comparing the gap profiles of the same simulation at various ALMA bands and the hydro simulation confirmed that they change significantly, first because the gap is wider at longer wavelengths due to decreasing optical depth; second, the beam convolution makes the gap shallower and at least 25% narrower. Therefore, caution has to be made when estimating planet masses based on ALMA continuum observations of gaps.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Polarized scattered light from self-luminous exoplanets

Polarized scattered light from self-luminous exoplanets

Authors:


Stolker et al

Abstract:
Direct imaging has paved the way for atmospheric characterization of young and self-luminous gas giants. Scattering in a horizontally-inhomogeneous atmosphere causes the disk-integrated polarization of the thermal radiation to be linearly polarized, possibly detectable with the newest generation of high-contrast imaging instruments. We aim to investigate the effect of latitudinal and longitudinal cloud variations, circumplanetary disks, atmospheric oblateness, and cloud particle properties on the integrated degree and direction of polarization in the near-infrared. We have developed a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer code (ARTES) for scattered light simulations in (exo)planetary atmospheres. The code is applicable to calculations of reflected light and thermal radiation in a spherical grid with a parameterized distribution of gas, clouds, hazes, and circumplanetary material. The disk-integrated degree of polarization of a horizontally-inhomogeneous atmosphere is maximal when the planet is flattened, the optical thickness of the equatorial clouds is large compared to the polar clouds, and the clouds are located at high altitude. For a flattened planet, the integrated polarization can both increase or decrease with respect to a spherical planet which depends on the horizontal distribution and optical thickness of the clouds. The direction of polarization can be either parallel or perpendicular to the projected direction of the rotation axis when clouds are zonally distributed. Rayleigh scattering by submicron-sized cloud particles will maximize the polarimetric signal whereas the integrated degree of polarization is significantly reduced with micron-sized cloud particles as a result of forward scattering. The presence of a cold or hot circumplanetary disk may also produce a detectable degree of polarization (≲1%) even with a uniform cloud layer in the atmosphere.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Effects of the Planetary Temperature on the Circumplanetary Disk and on the Gap

Effects of the Planetary Temperature on the Circumplanetary Disk and on the Gap

Author:


Szulágyi

Abstract:

Circumplanetary disks regulate the late accretion to the giant planet and serve as the birthplace for satellites. Understanding their characteristics via simulations also helps to prepare for their observations. Here we study disks around 1, 3, 5, 10 MJup planets with three dimensional, global radiative hydrodynamic simulations with sub-planet peak resolution, and various planetary temperatures. We found that as the 1 MJup planet radiates away its formation heat, the circumplanetary envelope transitions to a disk between Tp=6000 K and 4000 K. In the case of 3-10 MJup planets a disk always forms. The temperature profile of the circumplanetary disks is very steep, the inner 1/6th is over the silicate condensation temperature and the entire disk is above water freezing point, making satellite formation impossible in this early stage (less than 1 Myr). Satellites might form much later and first in the outer parts of the disk migrating inwards later on. Our disk masses are 1,7,20,40×10−3MJup for the 1, 3, 5, 10 MJup gas giants respectively, and we provide an empirical formula to estimate the subdisk masses based on the planet- and circumstellar disk mass. Our finding is that the cooler the planet, the lower the temperature of the subdisk, the higher the vertical influx velocities, and the planetary gap is both deeper and wider. We also show that the gaps in 2D and 3D are different. The subdisk eccentricity increases with planetary mass and violently interacts with the circumstellar disk, making satellite-formation less likely, if Mp≳5MJup.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Free Floating Gas Giant OTS44 has a Circum Planetary Disk

First millimeter detection of the disk around a young, isolated, planetary-mass object

Authors:


Bayo et al

Abstract:


OTS44 is one of only four free-floating planets known to have a disk. We have previously shown that it is the coolest and least massive known free-floating planet (∼12 MJup) with a substantial disk that is actively accreting. We have obtained Band 6 (233 GHz) ALMA continuum data of this very young disk-bearing object. The data shows a clear unresolved detection of the source. We obtained disk-mass estimates via empirical correlations derived for young, higher-mass, central (substellar) objects. The range of values obtained are between 0.07 and 0.63 M⊕ (dust masses). We compare the properties of this unique disk with those recently reported around higher-mass (brown dwarfs) young objects in order to infer constraints on its mechanism of formation. While extreme assumptions on dust temperature yield disk-mass values that could slightly diverge from the general trends found for more massive brown dwarfs, a range of sensible values provide disk masses compatible with a unique scaling relation between Mdust and M∗ through the substellar domain down to planetary masses.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

An upper limit on the mass of the circumplanetary disk for DH Tau b

An upper limit on the mass of the circumplanetary disk for DH Tau b

Authors:


Wolff et al

Abstract:
DH Tau is a young (∼1 Myr) classical T Tauri star. It is one of the few young PMS stars known to be associated with a planetary mass companion, DH Tau b, orbiting at large separation and detected by direct imaging. DH Tau b is thought to be accreting based on copious Hα emission and exhibits variable Paschen Beta emission. NOEMA observations at 230 GHz allow us to place constraints on the disk dust mass for both DH Tau b and the primary in a regime where the disks will appear optically thin. We estimate a disk dust mass for the primary, DH Tau A of 17.2±1.7M⊕, which gives a disk-to-star mass ratio of 0.014 (assuming the usual Gas-to-Dust mass ratio of 100 in the disk). We find a conservative disk dust mass upper limit of 0.42M⊕ for DH Tau b, assuming that the disk temperature is dominated by irradiation from DH Tau b itself. Given the environment of the circumplanetary disk, variable illumination from the primary or the equilibrium temperature of the surrounding cloud would lead to even lower disk mass estimates. A MCFOST radiative transfer model including heating of the circumplanetary disk by DH Tau b and DH Tau A suggests that a mass averaged disk temperature of 22 K is more realistic, resulting in a dust disk mass upper limit of 0.09M⊕ for DH Tau b. We place DH Tau b in context with similar objects and discuss the consequences for planet formation models.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Formation of satellites from cold collapse


Authors:

Benhaiem et al

Abstract:

We study the collapse of an isolated, initially cold, irregular (but almost spherical) and (slightly) inhomogeneous cloud of self-gravitating particles. The cloud is driven towards a virialized quasi-equilibrium state by a fast relaxation mechanism, occurring in a typical time τc, whose signature is a large change in the particle energy distribution. Post-collapse particles are divided into two main species: bound and free, the latter being ejected from the system. Because of the initial system's anisotropy, the time varying gravitational field breaks spherical symmetry so that the ejected mass can carry away angular momentum and the bound system can gain a non-zero angular momentum. In addition, while strongly bound particles form a compact core, weakly bound ones may form, in a time scale of the order of τc, several satellite sub-structures. These satellites have a finite lifetime that can be longer than τc and generally form a flattened distribution. Their origin and their abundance are related to the amplitude and nature of initial density fluctuations and to the initial cloud deviations from spherical symmetry, which are both amplified during the collapse phase. Satellites show a time dependent virial ratio that can be different from the equilibrium value b≈−1: although they are bound to the main virialized object, they are not necessarily virially relaxed.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Shock-driven Accretion in Circumplanetary Disks: Observables and Satellite Formation


Authors:

Zhu et al

Abstract:

Circumplanetary disks (CPDs) control the growth of planets, supply material for satellites to form, and provide observational signatures of young forming planets. We have carried out two dimensional hydrodynamical simulations with radiative cooling to study CPDs, and suggested a new mechanism to drive the disk accretion. Two spiral shocks are present in CPDs, excited by the central star. We find that spiral shocks can at least contribute to, if not dominate the angular momentum transport and energy dissipation in CPDs. Meanwhile, dissipation and heating by spiral shocks have a positive feedback on shock-driven accretion itself. As the disk is heated up by spiral shocks, the shocks become more open, leading to more efficient angular momentum transport. This shock driven accretion is, on the other hand, unsteady on a timescale of months/years due to production and destruction of vortices in disks. After being averaged over time, a quasi-steady accretion is reached from the planet's Hill radius all the way to the planet surface, and the disk α-coefficient characterizing angular momentum transport due to spiral shocks is ∼0.001-0.02. The disk surface density ranges from 10 to 1000 g cm−2 in our simulations, which is at least 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the "minimum mass sub-nebula" model used to study satellite formation; instead it is more consistent with the "gas-starved" satellite formation model. Finally, we calculate the millimeter flux emitted by CPDs at ALMA and EVLA wavelength bands and predict the flux for several recently discovered CPD candidates, which suggests that ALMA is capable of discovering these accreting CPDs.

Shocking Hot Surfaces on Circumplanetary Disks of Forming Gas Giants


Authors:

Szulágyi et al

Abstract:

The luminosity of young giant planets can inform about their formation and accretion history. The directly imaged planets detected so far are consistent with the "hot-start" scenario of high entropy and luminosity. If nebular gas passes through a shock front before being accreted into a protoplanet, the entropy can be substantially altered. To investigate this, we present high resolution, 3D radiative hydrodynamic simulations of accreting giant planets. The accreted gas is found to fall with supersonic speed in the gap from the circumstellar disk's upper layers onto the surface of the circumplanetary disk and polar region of the protoplanet. There it shocks, creating an extended hot supercritical shock surface. This shock front is optically thick, therefore, it can conceal the planet's intrinsic luminosity beneath. The gas in the vertical influx has high entropy which when passing through the shock front decreases significantly while the gas becomes part of the disk and protoplanet. This shows that circumplanetary disks play a key role in regulating a planet's thermodynamic state. Our simulations furthermore indicate that around the shock surface extended regions of atomic - sometimes ionized - hydrogen develop. Therefore circumplanetary disk shock surfaces could influence significantly the observational appearance of forming gas-giants.

Comparing two Exomoon Formation Theories in Circumplanetary Disks


Authors:

Szulágyi et al

Abstract:

Circumplanetary disks can be found around forming giant planets, regardless of whether core accretion or gravitational instability built the planet. We carried out state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of the circumplanetary disks for both formation scenarios, using as similar initial conditions as possible to unveil possible intrinsic differences in the circumplanetary disk mass and temperature between the two formation mechanisms. We found that the circumplanetary disks mass linearly scales with the circumstellar disk mass. Therefore, in an equally massive protoplanetary disk, the circumplanetary disks formed in the disk instability model can be only a factor of eight more massive than their core-accretion counterparts. On the other hand, the bulk circumplanetary disk temperature differs by more than an order of magnitude between the two cases. The subdisks around planets formed by gravitational instability have a characteristic temperature below 100 K, while the core accretion circumplanetary disks are hot, with temperatures even greater than 1000 K when embedded in massive, optically thick protoplanetary disks. We explain how this difference can be understood as the natural result of the different formation mechanisms. We argue that the different temperatures should persist up to the point when a full-fledged gas giant forms via disk instability, hence our result provides a convenient criteria for observations to distinguish between the two main formation scenarios by measuring the bulk temperature in the planet vicinity.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Gas GIant Exoplanet J1407b's Rings Intrigue

Back in 2007, astronomers observed a series of unusual eclipses coming from a star 420 light years from Earth. In 2012, a team from Japan and the Netherlands reasoned that this phenomena was due to the presence of a large exoplanet – designated J1407b – with a massive ring system orbiting the star. Since then, several surprising finds have been made.

For example, in 2015, the same team concluded that the ring system is one-hundred times larger and heavier than Saturn’s (and may be similarly sculpted by exomoons). And in their most recent study, they have shown that these giant rings may last for over 100,000 years, assuming they have a rare and unusual orbit around their planet.

In their previous work, Rieder and Kenworth determined that the ring system around J1407b consisted about 37 rings that extend to a distance of 0.6 AU (90 million km) from the planet. They also estimated that these rings are 100 times as massive as our Moon – 7342 trillion trillion metric tons. What’s more, while J1407b’s existence is yet to be confirmed, they were able to rule out the possibility of it having a circular orbit around the star.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Circumplanetary disc or circumplanetary envelope?


Authors:

Szulágyi et al

Abstract:

We present three-dimensional simulations with nested meshes of the dynamics of the gas around a Jupiter mass planet with the jupiter and fargoca codes. We implemented a radiative transfer module into the jupiter code to account for realistic heating and cooling of the gas. We focus on the circumplanetary gas flow, determining its characteristics at very high resolution (80 per cent of Jupiter's diameter). In our nominal simulation where the temperature evolves freely by the radiative module and reaches 13000 K at the planet, a circumplanetary envelope was formed filling the entire Roche lobe. Because of our equation of state is simplified and probably overestimates the temperature, we also performed simulations with limited maximal temperatures in the planet region (1000, 1500, and 2000 K). In these fixed temperature cases circumplanetary discs (CPDs) were formed. This suggests that the capability to form a CPD is not simply linked to the mass of the planet and its ability to open a gap. Instead, the gas temperature at the planet's location, which depends on its accretion history, plays also fundamental role. The CPDs in the simulations are hot and cooling very slowly, they have very steep temperature and density profiles, and are strongly sub-Keplerian. Moreover, the CPDs are fed by a strong vertical influx, which shocks on the CPD surfaces creating a hot and luminous shock-front. In contrast, the pressure supported circumplanetary envelope is characterized by internal convection and almost stalled rotation.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Circumplanetary disk or circumplanetary envelope?

Circumplanetary disk or circumplanetary envelope?

Authors:


Szulágyi et al

Abstract:

We present three-dimensional simulations with nested meshes of the dynamics of the gas around a Jupiter mass planet with the JUPITER and FARGOCA codes. We implemented a radiative transfer module into the JUPITER code to account for realistic heating and cooling of the gas. We focus on the circumplanetary gas flow, determining its characteristics at very high resolution (80% of Jupiter's diameter). In our nominal simulation where the temperature evolves freely by the radiative module and reaches 13000 K at the planet, a circumplanetary envelope was formed filling the entire Roche-lobe. Because of our equation of state is simplified and probably overestimates the temperature, we also performed simulations with limited maximal temperatures in the planet region (1000 K, 1500 K, and 2000 K). In these fixed temperature cases circumplanetary disks (CPDs) were formed. This suggests that the capability to form a circumplanetary disk is not simply linked to the mass of the planet and its ability to open a gap. Instead, the gas temperature at the planet's location, which depends on its accretion history, plays also fundamental role. The CPDs in the simulations are hot and cooling very slowly, they have very steep temperature and density profiles, and are strongly sub-Keplerian. Moreover, the CPDs are fed by a strong vertical influx, which shocks on the CPD surfaces creating a hot and luminous shock-front. In contrast, the pressure supported circumplanetary envelope is characterized by internal convection and almost stalled rotation.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Capture of planetesimals by waning circumplanetary gas disks

Capture of planetesimals by waning circumplanetary gas disks

Authors:

Suetsugu et al

Abstract:

When gas giant protoplanets grow sufficiently massive, circumplanetary disks would form. While solid bodies captured by the circumplanetary disks likely contribute to the growth of the planets and regular satellites around them, some of captured bodies would remain in planet-centered orbits after the dispersal of the disk. We examine capture and subsequent orbital evolution of planetesimals in waning circumplanetary gas disks using three-body orbital integration. We find that some of captured planetesimals can survive in the circumplanetary disk for a long period of time under such weak gas drag. Captured planetesimals have semi-major axes smaller than about one third of the planet's Hill radius. Distributions of their eccentricities and inclinations after disk dispersal depend on the strength of gas drag and the timescale of disk dispersal, and initially strong gas drag and quick disk dispersal facilitates capture and survival of planetesimals. However, in such a case, final orbital eccentricities and inclinations of captured bodies remain rather large. Although our results suggest that some of the present irregular satellites of gas giant planets with small semi-major axes would have been captured by gas drag, other mechanisms are required to fully explain their current orbital characteristics.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Effects of Wakes on Dense Planetary Rings

Dynamics of Self-Gravity Wakes in Dense Planetary Rings I. Pitch Angle

Authors:

Michikoshi et al

Abstract:

We investigate the dynamics of self-gravity wakes in dense planetary rings. In particular, we examine how the pitch angle of self-gravity wakes depend on ring parameters using N-body simulations. We calculate the pitch angles using the two-dimensional autocorrelation function of the ring surface density. We obtain the pitch angles for the inner and outer parts of the autocorrelation function separately. We confirm that the pitch angles are 15 to 30 degrees for reasonable ring parameters, which are consistent with previous studies. We find that the inner pitch angle increases with the Saturnicentric distance, while it barely depends on the optical depth and the restitution coefficient of ring particles. The increase of the inner pitch angle with the Saturnicentric distance is consistent with the observations of the A ring. The outer pitch angle does not have the clear dependence on any ring parameters and is about 10 - 15 degrees. This value is consistent with the pitch angle of spiral arms in collisionless systems.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Irregular Satellite Swarms Around Fomalhaut b

Collisional Cascade Caclulations for Irregular Satellite Swarms in Fomalhaut b

Authors:

Kenyon et al

Abstract:

We describe an extensive suite of numerical calculations for the collisional evolution of irregular satellite swarms around 1--300 M-earth planets orbiting at 120 AU in the Fomalhaut system. For 10--100 M-earth planets, swarms with initial masses of roughly 1% of the planet mass have cross-sectional areas comparable to the observed cross-sectional area of Fomalhaut b. Among 30--300 M-earth planets, our calculations yield optically thick swarms of satellites for ages of 1-10 Myr. Observations with HST and ground-based AO instruments can constrain the frequency of these systems around stars in the beta Pic moving group and possibly other nearby associations of young stars.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Temperature Distributions of CircumPlanetary Moon Forming Disks

Stimulated Radiative Molecular Association in the Early Solar System: Orbital Radii of Satellites of Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn

Author:

Lombardi

Abstract:

The present investigation relates the orbital radii of regular satellites of Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn to photon energies in the spectra of atomic and molecular hydrogen. To explain these observations a model is developed involving stimulated radiative molecular association (SRMA) reactions among the photons and atoms in the protosatellite disks of the planets. In this model thermal energy is extracted from each disk due to a resonance at radii where there is a match between the temperature in the disk and a photon energy. Matter accumulates at these radii, and satellites and rings are ultimately formed. Orbital radii of satellites of Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune are related to photon energies (EPM values) in the spectrum of molecular hydrogen. Orbital radii of satellites of Saturn are related to photon energies (EPA values) in the spectrum of atomic hydrogen. The first hint that such relationships exist is found in the linearity of the graphs of orbital radii of uranian satellites vs. orbital radii of jovian satellites, as well as in the graphs of orbital radii of uranian satellites vs. orbital radii of neptunian satellites. An expression is determined which gives the temperature in protosatellite disks where the evolution of each satellite begins. This expression is used to find temperature distributions in the disks, which are found to be similar to distributions calculated by other investigators.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Capture and Evolution of Planetesimals in Circum Gas Giant Disks

Capture and Evolution of Planetesimals in Circumjovian Disks

Authors:

D'Angelo et al

Abstract:

We study the evolution of planetesimals in evolved gaseous disks, which orbit a solar-mass star and harbor a Jupiter-mass planet at a_p~5AU. The gas dynamics is modeled with a three-dimensional hydrodynamics code that employes nested-grids and achieves a resolution of one Jupiter's radius in the circumplanetary disk. The code models solids as individual particles. Planetesimals are subjected to gravitational forces by the star and the planet, drag force by the gas, disruption via ram pressure, and mass loss through ablation. The mass evolution of solids is calculated self-consistently with their temperature, velocity, and position. We consider icy and icy/rocky bodies of radius 0.1-100km, initially deployed on orbits around the star within a few Hill radii (Rhill) of the planet's orbit. Planetesimals are scattered inward, outward, and toward disk regions of radius much greater than a_p. Scattering can relocate significant amounts of solids, provided that regions |r-a_p|~ 3Rhill are replenished with planetesimals. Scattered bodies can be temporarily captured on planetocentric orbits. Ablation consumes nearly all solids at gas temperatures greater than ~220K. Super-keplerian rotation around and beyond the outer edge of the gas gap can segregate less than ~0.1km bodies, producing solid gap edges at size-dependent radial locations. Capture, break-up, and ablation of solids result in a dust-laden circumplanetary disk with low surface densities of km-size planetesimals, implying relatively long timescales for satellite formation. After a giant planet acquires most of its mass, accretion of solids is unlikely to alter significantly its heavy-element content. The luminosity generated by solids' accretion can be of a similar order of magnitude to the contraction luminosity.

Friday, April 10, 2015

The Implications of Properties of Circum Exoplanet & Circum Brown Dwarf Disks

The properties of discs around planets and brown dwarfs as evidence for disc fragmentation

Authors:

Stamatellos et al

Abstract:

Direct imaging searches have revealed many very low-mass objects, including a small number of planetary mass objects, as wide-orbit companions to young stars. The formation mechanism of these objects remains uncertain. In this paper we present the predictions of the disc fragmentation model regarding the properties of the discs around such low-mass objects. We find that the discs around objects that have formed by fragmentation in discs hosted by Sun-like stars (referred to as 'parent' discs and 'parent' stars) are more massive than expected from the Mdisc−M∗ relation (which is derived for stars with masses M∗ less than 0.2M⊙). Accordingly, the accretion rates onto these objects are also higher than expected from the M˙∗−M∗ relation. Moreover there is no significant correlation between the mass of the brown dwarf or planet with the mass of its disc nor with the accretion rate from the disc onto it. The discs around objects that form by disc fragmentation have larger than expected masses as they accrete gas from the disc of their parent star during the first few kyr after they form. The amount of gas that they accrete and therefore their mass depend on how they move in their parent disc and how they interact with it. Observations of disc masses and accretion rates onto very low-mass objects are consistent with the predictions of the disc fragmentation model. Future observations (e.g. by ALMA) of disc masses and accretion rates onto substellar objects that have even lower masses (young planets and young, low-mass brown dwarfs), where the scaling relations predicted by the disc fragmentation model diverge significantly from the corresponding relations established for higher-mass stars, will test the predictions of this model.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Massive Rings of J1407b Dwarf Saturn's, Sculpted by Giant ExoMoon?


Modeling giant extrasolar ring systems in eclipse and the case of J1407b: sculpting by exomoons?

Authors:

Kenworthy et al

Abstract:

The light curve of 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6, a ∼16 Myr old star in the Sco-Cen OB association, underwent a complex series of deep eclipses that lasted 56 days, centered on April 2007. This light curve is interpreted as the transit of a giant ring system that is filling up a fraction of the Hill sphere of an unseen secondary companion, J1407b. We fit the light curve with a model of an azimuthally symmetric ring system, including spatial scales down to the temporal limit set by the star's diameter and relative velocity. The best ring model has 37 rings and extends out to a radius of 0.6 AU (90 million km), and the rings have an estimated total mass on the order of 100MMoon. The ring system has one clearly defined gap at 0.4 AU (61 million km), which we hypothesize is being cleared out by a less than 0.8M⊕ exosatellite orbiting around J1407b. This eclipse and model implies that we are seeing a circumplanetary disk undergoing a dynamic transition to an exosatellite-sculpted ring structure and is one of the first seen outside our Solar system.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Forming Multiple Moons From Low-Mass Circumplanetary Disks

Formation of Multiple-Satellite Systems From Low-Mass Circumplanetary Particle Disks

Authors:

Hyodo et al

Abstract:

Circumplanetary particle disks would be created in the late stage of planetary formation either by impacts of planetary bodies or disruption of satellites or passing bodies, and satellites can be formed by accretion of disk particles spreading across the Roche limit. Previous N-body simulation of lunar accretion focused on the formation of single-satellite systems from disks with large disk-to-planet mass ratios, while recent models of the formation of multiple-satellite systems from disks with smaller mass ratios do not take account of gravitational interaction between formed satellites. In the present work, we investigate satellite accretion from particle disks with various masses, using N-body simulation. In the case of accretion from somewhat less massive disks than the case of lunar accretion, formed satellites are not massive enough to clear out the disk, but can become massive enough to gravitationally shepherd the disk outer edge and start outward migration due to gravitational interaction with the disk. When the radial location of the 2:1 mean motion resonance of the satellite reaches outside the Roche limit, the second satellite can be formed near the disk outer edge, and then the two satellites continue outward migration while being locked in the resonance. Co-orbital satellites are found to be occasionally formed on the orbit of the first satellite. Our simulations also show that stochastic nature involved in gravitational interaction and collision between aggregates in the tidal environment can lead to diversity in the final mass and orbital architecture, which would be expected in satellite systems of exoplanets.