Thermal structure of circumbinary discs: Circumbinary planets should be icy, not rocky

¹ Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
e-mail: arnaud.pierens@u-bordeaux.fr
² Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK

Received: 15 January 2024
Accepted: 7 March 2024

Abstract

The process of forming a circumbinary planet is thought to be intimately related to the structure of the nascent circumbinary disc. It has been shown that the structure of a circumbinary disc depends strongly on three-dimensional effects and on detailed modelling of the thermodynamics. Here, we employ three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, combined with a proper treatment of the thermal physics using the RADMC-3D radiation transport code, to examine the location of the snow line in circumbinary discs. The models have application to the circumbinary planets that have been discovered in recent years by the Kepler and TESS transit surveys. We find that the snow line is located in a narrow region of the circumbinary disc, close to the inner cavity that is carved out by the central binary, at typical orbital distances of ~ 1.5–2 au for the system parameters considered. In this region, previous work has shown that both grain growth and pebble accretion are likely to be inefficient because of the presence of hydrodynamical turbulence. Hence, in situ planet formation interior to the snow line is unlikely to occur and circumbinary planets should preferentially be icy, not rocky.