ArXiv TLDR

Turbulent infall onto class 0 disks as cause of CAI brief condensation episode in the solar system

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2604.21322

Jiachen Zheng, Xing Wei, Hongping Deng, Wenrui Xu, Douglas N. C. Lin

astro-ph.EPastro-ph.GAastro-ph.SR

TLDR

This study proposes that turbulent infall onto early Class 0 disks caused the brief, intense condensation and re-condensation of CAIs in the early solar system.

Key contributions

  • Numerical simulations demonstrate pre-solar CAIs sublimate and re-condense during early Class 0 disk formation.
  • Dynamic infall of external streamers induces rapid changes in disk orientation and morphology, including warps.
  • Intense dissipation from warps and spiral waves heats gas, causing CAI sublimation and subsequent re-condensation.
  • Suggests meteoritic CAIs are relics of the last major infall episode onto Class 0 disks.

Why it matters

This paper offers a compelling explanation for the puzzlingly brief condensation episode of Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), the solar system's oldest relics. It provides a dynamic mechanism, turbulent infall onto young disks, that reconciles the short CAI formation window with longer-duration isotopic pollution. This model significantly advances our understanding of early solar system formation.

Original Abstract

Calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in carbonaceous chondritic meteorites are the oldest relics in the solar system. Notably, their radiogenic age feature a brief (100 kyr) condensation episode. In contrast, the reservoirs of the short-lived isotopes in CAIs, presumably supernovae or asymptotic giant stars, pollutes star-forming regions in giant molecular cloud complexes (GMC) over much longer (Myr) duration. Through a series of numerical simulations, we show here the possibility that, within an extended region (2$\sim$3 AU), nearly all ``pre-solar'' CAI-loaded grains in the infall clouds were sublimated and re-condensed during the early ($ \lesssim 10^5$ yr) infall and formation of class-0 disks. We adopt a set of initial conditions from a previous hydrodynamic simulation of the collapse of GMC and the formation of young stellar clusters. We analyze the evolution of the disk's thermal distribution and dynamical structure resulting from the interaction between circumstellar disks and infalling gas. Our follow-up simulations, with much higher resolution, show significant and rapid changes in the disk orientation and morphology due to the dynamic infall of external streamers. Warps and global spiral density waves commonly appear. They lead to intense dissipation which heats the gas to sufficiently high temperature to sublimate prior-generation CAIs. This solid-to-gas phase transition is followed by subsequent cooling and re-condensation. The CAI contained in the meteorites today could be the relics of the last episode of major infall onto class 0 disks.

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