English

Icy Volatile Enhancements in Evolving Protoplanetary Disks

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2026-04-16 v1

Abstract

Protoplanetary disk ice lines shape a multitude of planet formation processes, setting the environmental composition through evolution. Ice line locations depend on molecular sublimation and deposition properties, but in dynamic disks where temperature and density structures change, so do the expected compositions of planets and planetesimals. In turbulent viscous disks with particle drift, thermal evolution, and desorption/adsorption, Price et al. 2021 demonstrated that the CO/H2_2O ice ratio beyond the CO ice line can become enhanced by 10×\sim10\times. We expand on their work by incorporating additional carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen species, more particle sizes, and a broader disk parameter exploration. We find that before 0.5\sim0.5Myr, volatile ices are enhanced relative to H2_2O as the outer disk is desiccated by drift, while at later disk times outward advection and volatile deposition further increase relative volatile icy enhancements beyond the evolving critical disk radius. The outcome of these combined relative icy enhancement to H2_2O mechanisms is solid C/O \sim N/O 1\sim1 beyond the hypervolatile ice lines, much higher than expected in static disks. Hypervolatiles (N2_2, CO, and CH4_4) robustly increase to 100×\sim100\times across the explored parameter space, while mid-volatiles (CO2_2 and NH3_3) are sensitive to model choices, with enhancements ranging from 250×\sim2-50\times. Together these results demonstrate that coupling disk dynamics with simple sublimation and deposition chemistry is fundamental to predicting grain, planetesimal, and planetary compositions, particularly the role of advection in redistributing volatiles across disk radii.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.14124,
  title  = {Icy Volatile Enhancements in Evolving Protoplanetary Disks},
  author = {Elizabeth Yunerman and Ellen Price and Karin Öberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.14124},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

30 pages, 16 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:11:11.231Z