Magnetically induced termination of giant planet formation

Here a physical model for terminating giant planet formation is outlined and compared to other methods of late-stage giant planet formation. As has been pointed out before, gas accreting into a gap and onto the planet will encounter the planetary dynamo-generated magnetic field. The planetary magnetic field produces an effective cross section through which gas is accreted. Gas outside this cross section is recycled into the protoplanetary disk, hence only a fraction of mass that is accreted into the gap remains bound to the planet. This cross section inversely scales with the planetary mass, which naturally leads to stalled planetary growth late in the formation process. We show that this method naturally leads to Jupiter-mass planets and does not invoke any artificial truncation of gas accretion, as has been done in some previous population synthesis models. The mass accretion rate depends on the radius of the growing planet after the gap has opened, and we show that so-called hot-start planets tend to become more massive than cold-start planets. When this result is combined with population synthesis models, it might show observable signatures of cold-start versus hot-start planets in the exoplanet population.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Composition of Early Planetary Atmospheres II: Coupled Dust and Chemical Evolution in Protoplanetary Disks

We present the next step in a series of papers devoted to connecting the composition of the atmospheres of forming planets with the chemistry of their natal evolving protoplanetary disks. The model presented here computes the coupled chemical and dust evolution of the disk and the formation of three planets per disk model. Our three canonical planet traps produce a Jupiter near 1 AU, a Hot Jupiter and a Super-Earth. We study the dependency of the final orbital radius, mass, and atmospheric chemistry of planets forming in disk models with initial disk masses that vary by 0.02 $M_\odot$ above and below our fiducial model ($M_{disk,0} = 0.1 ~M_\odot$). We compute C/O and C/N for the atmospheres formed in our 3 models and find that C/O$_{\rm planet}\sim$ C/O$_{\rm disk}$, which does not vary strongly between different planets formed in our model. The nitrogen content of atmospheres can vary in planets that grow in different disk models. These differences are related to the formation history of the planet, the time and location that the planet accretes its atmosphere, and are encoded in the bulk abundance of NH$_3$. These results suggest that future observations of atmospheric NH$_3$ and an estimation of the planetary C/O and C/N can inform the formation history of particular planetary systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Diverse outcomes of planet formation and composition around low-mass stars and brown dwarfs

The detection of Earth-size exoplanets around low-mass stars -- in stars such as Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1 -- provide an exceptional chance to improve our understanding of the formation of planets around M stars and brown dwarfs. We explore the formation of such planets with a population synthesis code based on a planetesimal-driven model previously used to study the formation of the Jovian satellites. Because the discs have low mass and the stars are cool, the formation is an inefficient process that happens at short periods, generating compact planetary systems. Planets can be trapped in resonances and we follow the evolution of the planets after the gas has dissipated and they undergo orbit crossings and possible mergers. We find that formation of planets above Mars mass and in the planetesimal accretion scenario, is only possible around stars with masses $M_{\star} \ge 0.07 M_{sun}$ and discs of $M_{disc} \ge 10^{-2}~M_{sun}$. We find that planets above Earth-mass form around stars with masses larger than $0.15 M_{\oplus}$ while planets larger than $5 M_{\oplus}$do not form in our model, even not under the most optimal conditions (massive disc), showing that planets such as GJ 3512b form with another, more efficient mechanism. Our results show that the majority of planets form with a significant water fraction; that most of our synthetic planetary systems have 1, 2, or 3 planets, but those with 4, 5, 6, and 7 planets are also common, confirming that compact planetary systems with many planets should be a relatively common outcome of planet formation around small stars.Comment: published in MNRA

Planet formation in the PDS 70 system: Constraining the atmospheric chemistry of PDS 70b and c

Understanding the chemical link between protoplanetary disks and planetary atmospheres is complicated by the fact that the popular targets in the study of disks and planets are widely separated both in space and time. The 5 Myr PDS 70 systems offers a unique opportunity to directly compare the chemistry of a giant planet's atmosphere to the chemistry of its natal disk. To that end, we derive our current best physical and chemical model for the PDS 70 disk through forward modelling of the $^{12}$CO, C$^{18}$O, and C$_2$H emission radial profiles with the thermochemical code DALI and find a volatile C/O ratio above unity in the outer disk. Using what we know of the PDS 70 disk today, we analytically estimate the properties of the disk as it was 4 Myr in the past when we assume that the giant planets started their formation, and compute a chemical model of the disk at that time. We compute the formation of PDS 70b and PDS 70c using the standard core accretion paradigm and account for the accretion of volatile and refractory sources of carbon and oxygen to estimate the resulting atmospheric carbon-to-oxygen number ratio (C/O) for these planets. Our inferred C/O ratio of the gas in the PDS 70 disk indicates that it is marginally carbon rich relative to the stellar C/O = 0.44 which we derive from an empirical relation between stellar metallicity and C/O. Under the assumption that the disk has been carbon rich for most of its lifetime, we find that the planets acquire a super-stellar C/O in their atmospheres. If the carbon-rich disk is a relatively recent phenomenon (i.e. developed after the formation of the planets at $\sim 1$ Myr) then the planets should have close to the stellar C/O in their atmospheres. This work lays the groundwork to better understand the disk in the PDS 70 system as well as the planet formation scenario that produce its planets.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A&

Genome of Drosophila suzukii, the spotted wing drosophila.

Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (spotted wing drosophila) has recently become a serious pest of a wide variety of fruit crops in the United States as well as in Europe, leading to substantial yearly crop losses. To enable basic and applied research of this important pest, we sequenced the D. suzukii genome to obtain a high-quality reference sequence. Here, we discuss the basic properties of the genome and transcriptome and describe patterns of genome evolution in D. suzukii and its close relatives. Our analyses and genome annotations are presented in a web portal, SpottedWingFlyBase, to facilitate public access

Cold Dust but Warm Gas in the Unusual Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4125

Data from the Herschel Space Observatory have revealed an unusual elliptical galaxy, NGC 4125, which has strong and extended submillimeter emission from cold dust but only very strict upper limits to its CO and Hi emission. Depending on the dust emissivity, the total dust mass is 2-5 x 10(6) M-circle dot. While the neutral gas-to-dust mass ratio is extremely low (= 10(4) K faster than the dust is evaporated. If galaxies like NGC 4125, where the far-infrared emission does not trace neutral gas in the usual manner, are common at higher redshift, this could have significant implications for our understanding of high redshift galaxies and galaxy evolution.Canadian Space AgencyNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaAgenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) I/005/11/0BMVIT (Austria)ESA-PRODEX (Belgium)CEA/CNES (France)DLR (Germany)ASI/INAF (Italy)CICYT/MCYT (Spain)CSA (Canada)NAOC (China)CEA, (France)CNES (France)CNRS (France)ASI (Italy)MCINN (Spain)SNSB (Sweden)STFC (UK)NASA (USA)National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationAstronom

MHD disc winds can reproduce fast disc dispersal and the correlation between accretion rate and disc mass in Lupus

Stars and planetary system

The Exogravity Project: Using Single Mode Interferometry to Characterize Exoplanets

Combining adaptive optics and interferometric observations results in a considerable contrast gain compared to single-telescope, extreme AO systems. Taking advantage of this, the ExoGRAVITY project is a survey of known young giant exoplanets located in the range of 0.1 to 2 from their stars. The observations provide astrometric data of unprecedented accuracy, being crucial for refining the orbital parameters of planets and illuminating their dynamical histories. Furthermore, GRAVITY will measure non-Keplerian perturbations due to planet-planet interactions in multi-planet systems and measure dynamical masses. Over time, repetitive observations of the exoplanets at medium resolution (R = 500) will provide a catalogue of K-band spectra of unprecedented quality, for a number of exoplanets. The K-band has the unique properties that it contains many molecular signatures (CO, H2O, CH4, CO2). This allows constraining precisely surface gravity, metallicity, and temperature, if used in conjunction with self-consistent models like Exo-REM. Further, we will use the parameter-retrieval algorithm petitRADTRANS to constrain the C/O ratio of the planets. Ultimately, we plan to produce the first C/O survey of exoplanets, kick-starting the difficult process of linking planetary formation with measured atomic abundances

Constraining the Nature of the PDS 70 Protoplanets with VLTI/GRAVITY

We present K-band interferometric observations of the PDS 70 protoplanets along with their host star using VLTI/ GRAVITY. We obtained K-band spectra and 100 μas precision astrometry of both PDS 70 b and c in two epochs, as well as spatially resolving the hot inner disk around the star. Rejecting unstable orbits, we found a nonzero eccentricity for PDS 70 b of 0.17 ± 0.06, a near-circular orbit for PDS 70 c, and an orbital configuration that is consistent with the planets migrating into a 2:1 mean motion resonance. Enforcing dynamical stability, we obtained a 95% upper limit on the mass of PDS 70 b of 10 MJup, while the mass of PDS 70 c was unconstrained. The GRAVITY K-band spectra rules out pure blackbody models for the photospheres of both planets. Instead, the models with the most support from the data are planetary atmospheres that are dusty, but the nature of the dust is unclear. Any circumplanetary dust around these planets is not well constrained by the planets’ 1–5 μm spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and requires longer wavelength data to probe with SED analysis. However with VLTI/GRAVITY, we made the first observations of a circumplanetary environment with sub-astronomical-unit spatial resolution, placing an upper limit of 0.3 au on the size of a bright disk around PDS 70 b