Evolution of the Solar Nebula. IX. Gradients in the Spatial Heterogeneity of the Short-Lived Radioisotopes $^{60}$Fe and $^{26}$Al and the Stable Oxygen Isotopes
Short-lived radioisotopes (SLRI) such as $^{60}$Fe and $^{26}$Al were likely injected into the solar nebula in a spatially and temporally heterogeneous manner. Marginally gravitationally unstable (MGU) disks, of the type required to form gas giant planets, are capable of rapid homogenization of isotopic heterogeneity as well as of rapid radial transport of dust grains and gases throughout a protoplanetary disk. Two different types of new models of a MGU disk in orbit around a solar-mass protostar are presented. The first set has variations in the number of terms in the spherical harmonic solution for the gravitational potential, effectively studying the effect of varying the spatial resolution of the gravitational torques responsible for MGU disk evolution. The second set explores the effects of varying the initial minimum value of the Toomre $Q$ stability parameter, from values of 1.4 to 2.5, i.e., toward increasingly less unstable disks. The new models show that the basic results are largely independent of both sets of variations. MGU disk models robustly result in rapid mixing of initially highly heterogeneous distributions of SLRIs to levels of $\sim$ 10% in both the inner ($<$ 5 AU) and outer ($>$ 10 AU) disk regions, and to even lower levels ($\sim$ 2%) in intermediate regions, where gravitational torques are most effective at mixing. These gradients should have cosmochemical implications for the distribution of SLRIs and stable oxygen isotopes contained in planetesimals (e.g., comets) formed in the giant planet region ($\sim$ 5 to $\sim$ 10 AU) compared to those formed elsewhere.
Possible Implications of Relatively High Levels of Initial $^{60}$Fe in Iron Meteorites for the Non-Carbonaceous -- Carbonaceous Meteorite Dichotomy and Solar Nebula Formation
H$_2^{18}$O in the terrestrial planet-forming regions of protoplanetary disks
Vassar College(瓦萨学院);Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院喷气推进实验室);Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院地质与行星科学系);Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison(威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校天文学系);Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian(哈佛-史密森尼天体物理中心);Department of Physics, Texas State University(德克萨斯州立大学物理系);Weber State University(韦伯州立大学);Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan(密歇根大学天文学系);Astrophysics & Space Institute, Schmidt Sciences(施密特科学天体物理学与空间研究所);Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter(埃克塞特大学物理与天文系);Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland(马里兰大学天文学系)