PHOTOEVAPORATION AS A TRUNCATION MECHANISM FOR CIRCUMPLANETARY DISKS

Journal Article · Tue Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/142/5/168· OSTI ID:22034350

Mitchell, Tyler R; Stewart, Glen R ^[1]

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1. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, 1234 Innovation Drive Boulder, CO 80303-7814 (United States)

We investigate the conditions under which the regular satellites of Jupiter and Saturn formed. The final stage of giant planet accretion is thought to occur slowly over a relatively long, 10 Myr, timescale. Gas accretion during this stage, through a completely or partially opened gap in the solar nebula, occurs slowly, allowing for the condensation of ices and incomplete differentiation seen in the regular satellites of the giant planets. Furthermore, the dichotomy seen in the Jovian and Saturnian systems may be explained as this infall wanes or is completely shutoff as a result of gaps opening or global depletion of gas in the solar nebula. We present one-dimensional simulations of circumplanetary disks that couple the viscous transport of material with the loss of mass at the disk outer edge by ultraviolet photoevaporation as well as the infall of material from the solar nebula. We find that the circumplanetary disks of these protoplanets are truncated as a result of photoevaporation at a range of values with the mean corresponding to Almost-Equal-To 0.16 Hill radii. These truncation radii are broadly consistent with the current locations of the regular satellite systems of Jupiter and Saturn. We also find that photoevaporation can successfully act as a clearing mechanism for circumplanetary nebulae on the potentially short timescales, 10{sup 2}-10{sup 4} yr, over which mass accretion from the solar nebula wanes as a result of a gap opening. Such a rapid clearing of the circum-Jovian disk may be required to explain the survival of the Galilean satellites.

• OSTI ID: 22034350
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 142; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ICE
JUPITER PLANET
MASS
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PROTOPLANETS
SATELLITES
SATURN PLANET
SOLAR NEBULA
STAR ACCRETION
STARS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION