14 research outputs found
Are Elias 2-27's Spiral Arms Driven by Self-gravity, or by a Companion? A Comparative Spiral Morphology Study
The spiral waves detected in the protostellar disk surrounding Elias 2-27 have been suggested as evidence of the disk being gravitationally unstable. However, previous work has shown that a massive, stable disk undergoing an encounter with a massive companion are also consistent with the observations. We compare the spiral morphology of smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations modeling both cases. The gravitationally unstable disk produces symmetric, tightly wound spiral arms with constant pitch angle, as predicted by the literature. The companion disk's arms are asymmetric, with pitch angles that increase with radius. However, these arms are not well-fitted by standard analytic expressions, due to the high disk mass and relatively low companion mass. We note that differences (or indeed similarities) in morphology between pairs of spirals is a crucial discriminant between scenarios for Elias 2-27, and hence future studies must fit spiral arms individually. If Elias 2-27 continues to show symmetric tightly wound spiral arms in future observations, then we posit that it is the first observed example of a gravitationally unstable protostellar disk
The chemistry of protoplanetary fragments formed via gravitational instabilities
In this paper, we model the chemical evolution of a 0.25 M
protoplanetary disc surrounding a 1 M star that undergoes
fragmentation due to self-gravity. We use Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
including a radiative transfer scheme, along with time-dependent chemical
evolution code to follow the composition of the disc and resulting fragments
over approximately 4000 yrs. Initially, four quasi-stable fragments are formed,
of which two are eventually disrupted by tidal torques in the disc. From the
results of our chemical modelling, we identify species that are abundant in the
fragments (e.g. HO, HS, HNO, N, NH,
OCS, SO), species that are abundant in the spiral shocks within the disc (e.g.
CO, CH, CN, CS, HCO), and species which are abundant in the
circumfragmentary material (e.g. HCO). Our models suggest that in
some fragments it is plausible for grains to sediment to the core before
releasing their volatiles into the planetary envelope, leading to changes in,
e.g., the C/O ratio of the gas and ice components. We would therefore predict
that the atmospheric composition of planets generated by gravitational
instability should not necessarily follow the bulk chemical composition of the
local disc material
The Fate of Formamide in a Fragmenting Protoplanetary Disk
Recent high-sensitivity observations carried out with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array have revealed the presence of complex organic molecules (COMs) such as methyl cyanide (CH3CN) and methanol (CH3OH) in relatively evolved protoplanetary discs. The behavior and abundance of COMs in earlier phases of disk evolution remain unclear. Here, we combine a smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of a fragmenting, gravitationally unstable disk with a gas-grain chemical code. We use this to investigate the evolution of formamide (NH2CHO), a prebiotic species, in both the disk and in the fragments that form within it. Our results show that formamide remains frozen onto grains in the majority of the disks where the temperatures are <100 K, with a predicted solid-phase abundance that matches those observed in comets. Formamide is present in the gas phase in three fragments as a result of the high temperatures (≥200 K), but remains in the solid phase in one colder (≤150 K) fragment. The timescale over which this occurs is comparable to the dust sedimentation timescales, suggesting that any rocky core that is formed would inherit their formamide content directly from the protosolar nebula
G11.92-0.61 MM1: A Keplerian disc around a massive young proto-O star
The formation process of massive stars is not well understood, and
advancement in our understanding benefits from high resolution observations and
modelling of the gas and dust surrounding individual high-mass (proto)stars.
Here we report sub-arcsecond (<1550 au) resolution observations of the young
massive star G11.92-0.61 MM1 with the SMA and VLA. Our 1.3 mm SMA observations
reveal consistent velocity gradients in compact molecular line emission from
species such as CHCN, CHOH, OCS, HNCO, HCO, DCN and CHCHCN,
oriented perpendicular to the previously reported bipolar molecular outflow
from MM1. Modelling of the compact gas kinematics suggests a structure
undergoing rotation around the peak of the dust continuum emission. The
rotational profile can be well fit by a model of a Keplerian disc, including
infall, surrounding an enclosed mass of 30-60M, of which
2-3M is attributed to the disc. From modelling the CHCN emission,
we determine that two temperature components, of 150 K and 230 K, are required
to adequately reproduce the spectra. Our 0.9 and 3.0cm VLA continuum data
exhibit an excess above the level expected from dust emission; the full
centimetre-submillimetre wavelength spectral energy distribution of MM1 is well
reproduced by a model including dust emission, an unresolved hypercompact
H{\i}{\i} region, and a compact ionised jet. In combination, our results
suggest that MM1 is an example of a massive proto-O star forming via disc
accretion, in a similar way to that of lower mass stars.European Research Council (ERC-2013-ADG DISCSIM project (Grant ID: 341137), ERC-2011-ADG ECOGAL project (Grant ID: 291227)), Science and Technology Facilities Council (Grant ID: ST/M001296/1), Royal Astronomical Society (Undergraduate Research Bursary)This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw191
Exoplanets and SETI
The discovery of exoplanets has both focused and expanded the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence. The consideration of Earth as an exoplanet, the
knowledge of the orbital parameters of individual exoplanets, and our new
understanding of the prevalence of exoplanets throughout the galaxy have all
altered the search strategies of communication SETI efforts, by inspiring new
"Schelling points" (i.e. optimal search strategies for beacons). Future efforts
to characterize individual planets photometrically and spectroscopically, with
imaging and via transit, will also allow for searches for a variety of
technosignatures on their surfaces, in their atmospheres, and in orbit around
them. In the near-term, searches for new planetary systems might even turn up
free-floating megastructures.Comment: 9 page invited review. v2 adds some references and v3 has other minor
additions and modification
Astrobiological Complexity with Probabilistic Cellular Automata
Search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the
major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely
and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular
automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling
astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The
relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the
input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of
the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of
large and ambiguous input parameters' space. We perform a simple clustering
analysis of typical astrobiological histories and discuss the relevant boundary
conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding actual empirical
astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present
framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational
databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how
numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of
practical SETI searches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added journal reference belo
Planetary population synthesis
In stellar astrophysics, the technique of population synthesis has been
successfully used for several decades. For planets, it is in contrast still a
young method which only became important in recent years because of the rapid
increase of the number of known extrasolar planets, and the associated growth
of statistical observational constraints. With planetary population synthesis,
the theory of planet formation and evolution can be put to the test against
these constraints. In this review of planetary population synthesis, we first
briefly list key observational constraints. Then, the work flow in the method
and its two main components are presented, namely global end-to-end models that
predict planetary system properties directly from protoplanetary disk
properties and probability distributions for these initial conditions. An
overview of various population synthesis models in the literature is given. The
sub-models for the physical processes considered in global models are
described: the evolution of the protoplanetary disk, the planets' accretion of
solids and gas, orbital migration, and N-body interactions among concurrently
growing protoplanets. Next, typical population synthesis results are
illustrated in the form of new syntheses obtained with the latest generation of
the Bern model. Planetary formation tracks, the distribution of planets in the
mass-distance and radius-distance plane, the planetary mass function, and the
distributions of planetary radii, semimajor axes, and luminosities are shown,
linked to underlying physical processes, and compared with their observational
counterparts. We finish by highlighting the most important predictions made by
population synthesis models and discuss the lessons learned from these
predictions - both those later observationally confirmed and those rejected.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures. Invited review accepted for publication in the
'Handbook of Exoplanets', planet formation section, section editor: Ralph
Pudritz, Springer reference works, Juan Antonio Belmonte and Hans Deeg, Ed
Discovering privileged topologies of molecular knots with self-assembling models
Despite the several available strategies to build complex supramolecular constructs, only a handful of different molecular knots have been synthesised so far. Here, in response to the quest for further designable topologies, we use Monte Carlo sampling and molecular dynamics simulations, informed by general principles of supramolecular assembly, as a discovery tool for thermodynamically and kinetically accessible knot types made of helical templates. By combining this approach with the exhaustive enumeration of molecular braiding patterns applicable to more general template geometries, we find that only few selected shapes have the closed, symmetric and quasi-planar character typical of synthetic knots. The corresponding collection of admissible topologies is extremely restricted. It covers all known molecular knots but it especially includes a limited set of novel complex ones that have not yet been obtained experimentally, such as 10124 and 15n41185, making them privileged targets for future self-assembling experiments
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G11.92-0.61 MM 1: A Fragmented Keplerian Disk Surrounding a Proto-O Star
Abstract
We present high-resolution (∼300 au) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the massive young stellar object G11.92–0.61 MM 1. We resolve the immediate circumstellar environment of MM 1 in 1.3 mm continuum emission and CH3CN emission for the first time. The object divides into two main sources—MM 1a, which is the source of a bipolar molecular outflow, and MM 1b, located 0.″57 (1920 au) to the southeast. The main component of MM 1a is an elongated continuum structure, perpendicular to the bipolar outflow, with a size of 0.″141 × 0.″050 (480 × 170 au). The gas kinematics toward MM 1a probed via CH3CN trace a variety of scales. The lower energy J = 12–11 K = 3 line traces extended, rotating gas within the outflow cavity, while the v8 = 1 line shows a clearly resolved Keplerian rotation signature. Analysis of the gas kinematics and dust emission shows that the total enclosed mass in MM 1a is 40 ± 5 M
⊙ (where between 2.2 and 5.8 M
⊙ is attributed to the disk), while MM 1b is <0.6 M
⊙. The extreme mass ratio and orbital properties of MM 1a and MM 1b suggest that MM 1b is one of the first observed examples of the formation of a binary star via disk fragmentation around a massive young (proto)star.</jats:p
The chemistry of protoplanetary fragments formed via gravitational instabilities
In this paper, we model the chemical evolution of a 0.25 M⊙ protoplanetary disc surrounding a 1 M⊙ star that undergoes fragmentation due to self-gravity. We use smoothed particle hydrodynamics including a radiative transfer scheme, along with a time-dependent chemical evolution code to follow the composition of the disc and resulting fragments over approximately 4000 yr. Initially, four quasi-stable fragments are formed, of which two are eventually disrupted by tidal torques in the disc. From the results of our chemical modelling, we identify species that are abundant in the fragments (e.g. H2O, H2S, HNO, N2, NH3, OCS, SO), species that are abundant in the spiral shocks within the disc (e.g. CO, CH4, CN, CS, H2CO) and species that are abundant in the circumfragmentary material (e.g. HCO+). Our models suggest that in some fragments it is plausible for grains to sediment to the core before releasing their volatiles into the planetary envelope, leading to changes in, e.g., the C/O ratio of the gas and ice components. We would therefore predict that the atmospheric composition of planets generated by gravitational instability should not necessarily follow the bulk chemical composition of the local disc material