Understanding Planetary Compositions Using Elemental Ratios in Protoplanetary Disks
Abstract
The study of the chemical structure of protoplanetary disks is important for understanding the formation of exoplanets and their resulting compositions. Previous work, assuming a static chemistry, demonstrated that the existence of multiple snow lines in protoplanetary disks could explain elevated (superstellar) C/O in planetary atmospheres if the atmosphere is accreted directly from nebular gas. During the lifetime of the disk (≥ 106 yr) the chemical composition may evolve considerably, however, resulting in different main carriers of C and O in disks and therefore the locations of major snowlines. To address this, we use a time-dependent, (1+1)-dimensional chemical model to trace the chemical evolution of the disk. This allows us to extract the gas- and solid-phase C/O and N/O ratios at different times and locations, which can be used as input to planet formation models.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22534911M