English

Testing planet formation from the ultraviolet to the millimeter

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2021-12-15 v2 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

Gaps imaged in protoplanetary discs are suspected to be opened by planets. We compute the present-day mass accretion rates M˙p\dot{M}_{\rm p} of seven hypothesized gap-embedded planets, plus the two confirmed planets in the PDS 70 disc. The accretion rates are based on disc gas surface densities Σgas\Sigma_{\rm gas} from C18^{18}O observations, and planet masses MpM_{\rm p} from simulations fitted to observed gaps. Assuming accretion is Bondi-like, we find in eight out of nine cases that M˙p\dot{M}_{\rm p} is consistent with the time-averaged value given by the current planet mass and system age, Mp/tageM_{\rm p}/t_{\rm age}. As system ages are comparable to circumstellar disc lifetimes, these gap-opening planets may be undergoing their last mass doublings, reaching final masses of Mp10102MM_{\rm p} \sim 10-10^2 \, M_\oplus for the non-PDS 70 planets, and Mp110MJM_{\rm p} \sim 1-10 \, M_{\rm J} for the PDS 70 planets. For another fifteen gaps without C18^{18}O data, we predict Σgas\Sigma_{\rm gas} by assuming their planets are accreting at their time-averaged M˙p\dot{M}_{\rm p}. Bondi accretion rates for PDS 70b and c are orders of magnitude higher than accretion rates implied by measured U-band and Hα\alpha fluxes, suggesting most of the accretion shock luminosity emerges in as yet unobserved wavebands, or that the planets are surrounded by dusty, highly extincting, quasi-spherical circumplanetary envelopes. Thermal emission from such envelopes or from circumplanetary discs, on Hill sphere scales, peaks at wavelengths in the mid-to-far-infrared and can reproduce observed mm-wave excesses.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.00029,
  title  = {Testing planet formation from the ultraviolet to the millimeter},
  author = {Nick Choksi and Eugene Chiang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.00029},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Accepted to MNRAS. Discussion on PDS 70 moved to a new Section 3.3

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:32:10.276Z