New ‘sandwich’ method of planetary formation

2023-07-04 10:53:07

An artist’s rendering of how small planets can form “sandwiches” between two larger ones. – UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK/MARK A. GARLICK

MADRID, 4 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

researchers of the University of Warwick have discovered a new method of planetary formation by studying areas of gas and dust that orbit a star, the protoplanetary disk.

The team showed how two large planets in the protoplanetary disk can potentially give rise to a smaller planet between them, which they call “intercalated planet formation.” The results are published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The reason for this is that the two original large planets restricted the inward flow of dust. This means that the amount of dust that accumulates between them is reduced compared to if there were no outer planet. If that dust eventually coalesced to form a planet, then the middle planet would probably be smaller than the two outer planets, like the filling of a sandwich.

While more research is needed in the field, this theory could present a possible explanation for the formation of small planets; like Mars and Uranus, which are surrounded by larger planets.

Associate Professor Farzana Meru, from the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, said it’s a statement: “Over the past decade, observations have revealed that rings and gaps exist in protoplanetary disks. The gaps are where we expect planets to be, and we know from theoretical work that planets cause dust rings to form right at the outside of them”.

“In our study, we propose the rings as sites of planet formation; specifically, that there are interspersed planets currently forming in those rings. This is very different from the conventional view of planet formation, where we normally expect planets to form sequentially. from the inside to the outside of the disk and become increasingly massive further out. What’s also really interesting is that there are examples that we’ve found from exoplanet observations that actually show this intercalated planet architecture, where the central planet is less massive than its neighbors; it is also a reasonable proportion of systems.

“The field of planet formation has been revolutionized recently. High-resolution images of planet-forming disks have appeared in the past ten years since a sophisticated new telescope (the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) began observing the night sky These images have given us clues about how planets form and evolve; It’s exciting to be at the forefront of this research.”