R. H. Hewins^1,2, C. Condie^1,3, M. Morris⁴, M. L. A. Richardson⁵, N. Ouellette⁴, and M. Metcalf⁴
Astrophysical Journal Letters 855, L17 Link to Article [DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aab15b]
¹EPS, Rutgers University, Piscataway NJ 08816, USA
²IMPMC, MNHN, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités, Paris F-75005, France
³Natural Science, Middlesex Community College, Edison, NJ 08818, USA
⁴Physics, SUNY at Cortland, NY 13045, USA
⁵Sub-department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK

It has been proposed that some meteorites, CB and CH chondrites, contain material formed as a result of a protoplanetary collision during accretion. Their melt droplets (chondrules) and FeNi metal are proposed to have formed by evaporation and condensation in the resulting impact plume. We observe that the skeletal olivine (SO) chondrules in CB_b chondrites have a blebby texture and an enrichment in refractory elements not found in normal chondrules. Because the texture requires complete melting, their maximum liquidus temperature of 1928 K represents a minimum temperature for the putative plume. Dynamic crystallization experiments show that the SO texture can be created only by brief reheating episodes during crystallization, giving a partial dissolution of olivine. The ejecta plume formed in a smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation served as the basis for 3D modeling with the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH4.3. Tracer particles that move with the fluid cells are used to measure the in situ cooling rates. Their cooling rates are ~10,000 K hr⁻¹ briefly at peak temperature and, in the densest regions of the plume, ~100 K hr⁻¹ for 1400–1600 K. A small fraction of cells is seen to be heating at any one time, with heating spikes explained by the compression of parcels of gas in a heterogeneous patchy plume. These temperature fluctuations are comparable to those required in crystallization experiments. For the first time, we find an agreement between experiments and models that supports the plume model specifically for the formation of CB_b chondrules.

Charli M. Sakari¹ (>10)
Astrophysical Journal Letters 854, L20 Link to Article [DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa9b4]
¹Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580, USA

A high-resolution spectroscopic analysis is presented for a new highly r-process-enhanced ([Eu/Fe] = 1.27, [Ba/Eu] = −0.65), very metal-poor ([Fe/H] = −2.09), retrograde halo star, RAVE J153830.9–180424, discovered as part of the R-Process Alliance survey. At V = 10.86, this is the brightest and most metal-rich r-II star known in the Milky Way halo. Its brightness enables high-S/N detections of a wide variety of chemical species that are mostly created by the r-process, including some infrequently detected lines from elements like Ru, Pd, Ag, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, and Th, with upper limits on Pb and U. This is the most complete r-process census in a very metal-poor r-II star. J1538–1804 shows no signs of s-process contamination, based on its low [Ba/Eu] and [Pb/Fe]. As with many other r-process-enhanced stars, J1538–1804’s r-process pattern matches that of the Sun for elements between the first, second, and third peaks, and does not exhibit an actinide boost. Cosmo-chronometric age-dating reveals the r-process material to be quite old. This robust main r-process pattern is a necessary constraint for r-process formation scenarios (of particular interest in light of the recent neutron star merger, GW170817), and has important consequences for the origins of r-II stars. Additional r-I and r-II stars will be reported by the R-Process Alliance in the near future.

Siteng Fan and Konstantin Batygin
Astrophysical Journal Letters 851, L37 Link to Article [DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa9f0b]
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Over the course of the last decade, the Nice model has dramatically changed our view of the solar system’s formation and early evolution. Within the context of this model, a transient period of planet–planet scattering is triggered by gravitational interactions between the giant planets and a massive primordial planetesimal disk, leading to a successful reproduction of the solar system’s present-day architecture. In typical realizations of the Nice model, self-gravity of the planetesimal disk is routinely neglected, as it poses a computational bottleneck to the calculations. Recent analyses have shown, however, that a self-gravitating disk can exhibit behavior that is dynamically distinct, and this disparity may have significant implications for the solar system’s evolutionary path. In this work, we explore this discrepancy utilizing a large suite of Nice model simulations with and without a self-gravitating planetesimal disk, taking advantage of the inherently parallel nature of graphic processing units. Our simulations demonstrate that self-consistent modeling of particle interactions does not lead to significantly different final planetary orbits from those obtained within conventional simulations. Moreover, self-gravitating calculations show similar planetesimal evolution to non-self-gravitating numerical experiments after dynamical instability is triggered, suggesting that the orbital clustering observed in the distant Kuiper Belt is unlikely to have a self-gravitational origin.

Pablo Benítez-Llambay and Martin E. Pessah
Astrophysical Journal Letters 855, L28 Link to Article [DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aab2ae]
Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

Fast inward migration of planetary cores is a common problem in the current planet formation paradigm. Even though dust is ubiquitous in protoplanetary disks, its dynamical role in the migration history of planetary embryos has not been assessed. In this Letter, we show that the scattered pebble-flow induced by a low-mass planetary embryo leads to an asymmetric dust-density distribution that is able to exert a net torque. By analyzing a large suite of multifluid hydrodynamical simulations addressing the interaction between the disk and a low-mass planet on a fixed circular orbit, and neglecting dust feedback onto the gas, we identify two different regimes, gas- and gravity-dominated, where the scattered pebble-flow results in almost all cases in positive torques. We collect our measurements in a first torque map for dusty disks, which will enable the incorporation of the effect of dust dynamics on migration into population synthesis models. Depending on the dust drift speed, the dust-to-gas mass ratio/distribution, and the embryo mass, the dust-induced torque has the potential to halt inward migration or even induce fast outward migration of planetary cores. We thus anticipate that dust-driven migration could play a dominant role during the formation history of planets. Because dust torques scale with disk metallicity, we propose that dust-driven outward migration may enhance the occurrence of distant giant planets in higher-metallicity systems.