Institute of Astronomy

A 2D dust chemistry of the inner Solar Nebula

SpeakerTalk DateTalk Series
Francesco C. Pignatale31 July 2014Across HR 2014 Talks

Abstract

Infrared spectroscopy provides details of the chemistry of the surface layers of protoplanetary disks but provides no information about the dust composition of the midplane and layers deep inside the disk. Thus, information from the bulk chemistry of the disk, where the process of planet formation takes place, are missing. Radial theoretical condensation sequences returns a good agreement with the chemical gradient found in the Solar System when applied to the midplane of the Solar Nebula. However, they cannot reproduce the complex chemistry of meteorites such as carbonaceous chondrites and the rare enstatite chondrites. In this work, we utilise a 2D disk model to derive, for the first time, the 2D condensates distribution within the inner Solar Nebula from the surface to the midplane. The resulting distribution is compared with observations of protoplanetary disks and then combined with analytical calculations of dynamical processes (radial migration and vertical settling of dust and the dead zone). As an extension of this work, preliminary simulations using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics to study the motion of grains with different chemistry will be presented. The resulting 2D chemistry provides new insights on the origin of the crystalline grains seen by IR observations and new clues on the bulk composition of planets. Furthermore, we have identified the potential zone in which enstatite chondrites could have formed, supporting recent evidence that these objects and the surface of Mercury shared similar bulk compositions.

Presentation