- Details
- Published on 29 June 2015
Vol. 579
In section 10. Planets and planetary systems
Formation of terrestrial planets in disks evolving via disk winds and implications for the origin of the solar system terrestrial planets
Accretion disks and associated disk winds are ubiquitous in young stars at the time when planets are being formed. Studies of planet formation in the protoplanetary disks usually ignore the possible effect of the disk wind on the properties of the disk, although the disk wind could affect the formation of terrestrial planets. In this work, the authors perform N-body simulations of the formation of terrestrial planets from planetary embryos in a disk/wind system. They find that even in the case of a weak disk wind, the radial slope of the gas surface density of the inner disk becomes shallower, which slows or halts the Type I migration of embryos. In a strong disk wind, the disk profile is significantly altered and and leads to outward migration of embryos inside approx. 1 au. The authors conclude that disk winds play an essential role in terrestrial planet formation within a few au. In addition, embryos can undergo convergent migration to approx. 1 AU under some realistic conditions, thus reproducing the characteristic features of the solar system’s terrestrial planets.