On the formation of super-Jupiters: core accretion or gravitational instability?

The Core Accretion model is widely accepted as the primary mechanism for forming planets up to a few Jupiter masses. However, the formation of super-massive planets remains a subject of debate, as their formation via the Core Accretion model requires super-solar metallicities. Assuming stellar atmos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysics and space science Vol. 369; no. 12; p. 122
Main Authors: Nguyen, Max, Adibekyan, Vardan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2024
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Accretion
Accretion disks
Astrobiology
Astronomy
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Building materials
Cosmology
Extrasolar planets
Gas giant planets
Gravitational instability
Jupiter
Jupiter atmosphere
Metal content
Metallicity
Observations and Techniques
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Planet formation
Planetary composition
Planetary mass
Planets
Protoplanetary disks
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
Stellar atmospheres
Stellar mass
Stellar mass accretion
Chemical abundances
Exoplanet formation
Planet hosting stars
Methods: statistical
ISSN:0004-640X, 1572-946X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The Core Accretion model is widely accepted as the primary mechanism for forming planets up to a few Jupiter masses. However, the formation of super-massive planets remains a subject of debate, as their formation via the Core Accretion model requires super-solar metallicities. Assuming stellar atmospheric abundances reflect the composition of protoplanetary disks, and that disk mass scales linearly with stellar mass, we calculated the total amount of metals in planet-building materials that could contribute to the formation of massive planets. In this work, we studied a sample of 172 Jupiter-mass planets and 93 planets with masses exceeding 4 M ♃ . Our results consistently demonstrate that planets with masses above 4 M ♃ form in disks with at least as much metal content as those hosting planets with masses between 1 and 4 M ♃ , often with slightly higher metallicity, typically exceeding that of the proto-solar disk. We interpret this as strong evidence that the formation of very massive Jupiters is feasible through Core Accretion and encourage planet formation modelers to test our observational conclusions.
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ISSN:0004-640X
1572-946X
DOI:10.1007/s10509-024-04388-2