Heavy Element Enrichment of the Gas Giant Planets

Details Heavy Element Enrichment of the Gas Giant Planets Heavy Element Enrichment of the Gas Giant Planets

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.4206c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #42.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.496

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The atmospheres of the gas giant planets possess supersolar enrichments in the heavy elements, with many elements at 2 to 4 times their solar abundances (relative to H). Straightforward application of the dominant theories of gas giant formation - core accretion and gravitational instability - fail to provide for the observed enrichment, suggesting that the surplus heavy elements were somehow dumped onto the planets after the envelopes were already in existence.
Guillot and Gladman (2000) showed that the giant planets in their current configuration do not accrete planetesimals efficiently enough to explain their observed surplus in heavy elements. We therefore investigate several plausible configurations of the early outer solar system and identify the parameters that most affect accretion rates onto the giant planets. We find that a simple model with proto-satellite disks around Jupiter and Saturn (which increase their planetesimal capture cross-section) can meet known constraints. Furthermore, we show that the heavy-element budgets in Jupiter and Saturn may be matched slightly better if Saturn's envelope (and disk) appears roughly 1-3 Myr after that of Jupiter.

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