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Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Anders Johansen

Professor

Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Stellar abundance of binary stars : Their role in determining the formation location of super-earths and ice giants

Author

  • B. Bitsch
  • R. Forsberg
  • F. Liu
  • A. Johansen

Summary, in English

Binary stars form from the same parent molecular cloud and thus have the same chemical composition. Forming planets take building material (solids) away from the surrounding protoplanetary disc. Assuming that the disc's accretion on to the star is the main process that clears the disc, the atmosphere of the star will show abundance reductions caused by the material accreted by the forming planet(s). If planets are only forming around one star of a binary system, the planet formation process can result in abundance differences in wide binary stars, if their natal protoplanetary discs do not interact during planet formation. Abundance differences in the atmospheres of wide binaries hosting giant planets have already been observed and linked to the formation location of giant planets. Here, we model how much building material is taken away for super-Earth planets that form inside/outside of the water ice line as well as ice giants forming inside/outside of the CO ice line. Our model predicts a significant abundance difference δ[X/H] in the stellar atmospheres of the planet-hosting binary component. Our model predicts that super-Earths that form inside the water ice line (r < rH2O) will result in an δ[Fe/H]/δ[O/H] abundance difference in the their host star that is a factor of 2 larger than for super-Earths formed outside the water ice line (r > rH2O) in the water-rich parts of the disc. Additionally, our model shows that the δ[Fe/H]/δ[C/H] abundance difference in the host star is at least a factor of 3 larger for ice giants formed at r < rCO compared to ice giants formed far out in the protoplanetary disc (r > rCO). Future observations of wide binary star systems hosting super-Earths and ice giants could therefore help to constrain the migration pathway of these planets and thus constrain planet formation theories.

Department/s

  • Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised

Publishing year

2018-09-21

Language

English

Pages

3690-3707

Publication/Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

479

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Keywords

  • Accretion, accretion discs
  • Planet-disc interactions
  • Planets and satellites: formation
  • Protoplanetary discs

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0035-8711