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The dominant accretion process leading to the formation of the terrestrial planets of the Solar System is a subject of intense scientific debate. Two radically different scenarios have been proposed. The classic scenario starts from a disk of planetesimals which, by mutual collisions, produce a set of Moon to Mars-mass planetary embryos. After the removal of gas from the disk, the embryos experience mutual giant impacts which, together with the accretion of additional planetesimals, lead to the formation of the terrestrial planets on a timescale of tens of millions of years. In the alternative, pebble accretion scenario, the terrestrial planets grow by accreting sunward-drifting mm-cm sized particles from the outer disk. The planets all form within the lifetime of the disk, with the sole exception of Earth, which undergoes a single post-disk giant impact with Theia (a fifth protoplanet formed by pebble accretion itself) to form the Moon. To distinguish between these two scenarios, we revisit all available constraints: compositional (in terms of nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies and chemical composition), dynamical and chronological. We find that the pebble accretion scenario is unable to match these constraints in a self-consistent manner, unlike the classic scenario., Comment: In press as a Frontier paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters

The nucleosynthetic isotope signatures of meteorites and the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) indicate that Earth consists of a mixture of "carbonaceous" (CC) and "non-carbonaceous" (NC) materials. We show that the fration of CC material recorded in the isotopic composition of the BSE varies for different elements, and depends on the element's tendency to partition into metal and its volatility. The observed behaviour indicates that the majority of material accreted to the Earth was NC-dominated, but that CC-dominated material enriched in moderately-volatile elements by a factor of ~10 was delivered during the last ~2-10% of Earth's acccretion. The late delivery of CC material to Earth contrasts with dynamical evidence for the early implantation of CC objects into the inner solar system during the growth and migration of the giant planets. This, together with the NC-dominated nature of both Earth's late veneer and bulk Mars, suggests that material scattered inwards had the bulk of its mass concentrated in a few, large CC embryos rather than in smaller planetesimals. We propose that Earth accreted a few of these CC embryos while Mars did not, and that at least one of the CC embryos impacted Earth relatively late (when accretion was 90-90% complete). This scenario is consistent with the subsequent Moon-formign impact of a large NC body, as long as this impact did not re-homogenize the entire Earth's mantle.

We present a plausible and coherent view of the evolution of the protosolar disk that is consistent with the cosmochemical constraints and compatible with observations of other protoplanetary disks and sophisticated numerical simulations. The evidence that high-temperature condensates, CAIs and AOAs, formed near the protosun before being transported to the outer disk can be explained by either an early phase of vigorous radial spreading of the disk, or fast transport of these condensates from the vicinity of the protosun towards large disk radii via the protostellar outflow. The assumption that the material accreted towards the end of the infall phase was isotopically distinct allows us to explain the observed dichotomy in nucleosynthetic isotopic anomalies of meteorites and leads to intriguing predictions on the isotopic composition of refractory elements in comets. When the infall of material waned, the disk started to evolve as an accretion disk. Initially, dust drifted inwards, shrinking the radius of the dust component to ~ 45 au, probably about 1/2 of the width of the gas component. Then structures must have emerged, producing a series of pressure maxima in the disk which trapped the dust on My timescales. This allowed planetesimals to form at radically distinct times without changing significantly of isotopic properties. There was no late accretion of material onto the disk via streamers. The disk disappeared in ~5 Myr, as indicated by paleomagnetic data in meteorites. In conclusion, the evolution of the protosolar disk seems to have been quite typical in terms of size, lifetime, and dust behavior, suggesting that the peculiarities of the Solar system with respect to extrasolar planetary system probably originate from the chaotic nature of planet formation and not at the level of the parental disk., Comment: In press in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We study the orbital evolution and mass growth of protoplanets with masses $M \in [0.1-8]$~M$_\oplus$ in the vicinity of a dusty ring, using three-dimensional numerical simulations with a two-fluid model and nested-meshes. We find two stable, eccentric orbits that lock the planet in the ring vicinity, thereby inhibiting its migration and allowing it to accrete dust from the ring. One of these orbits has an eccentricity comparable to the aspect ratio of the gaseous disc and has its periastron within the ring, enabling intermittent accretion during each pass. The other orbit has a smaller eccentricity and an apoastron slightly inside the ring. A planet locked at the outer orbit efficiently accretes from the ring and can reach the critical mass for runaway gas accretion on timescales $\gtrsim 10^5$ yr (for a 10~M$_\oplus$ dust ring at 10~au) while a planet locked at the inner orbit has a slower growth and might not supersede the super-Earth stage over the disc lifetime. While in our runs a low-mass embryo forming within the ring eventually joins the outer orbit, it is likely that the path taken depends on the specific details of the ring. The trapping on the outer orbit arises from an intermittent, strong thermal force at each passage through the ring, where the accretion rate spikes. It is insensitive to uncertainties that plague models considering planets trapped on circular orbits in rings. It is highly robust and could allow a growing planet to follow an expanding ring over large distances., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

For the origin of the radially concentrated solar system's terrestrial planets, planet formation from a ring of solids at about 1 au from the Sun with convergent/suppressed type I migration is preferred. On the other hand, many super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are found in the close-in region with orbital periods of 10-100 days, so that planet formation from rings in the 1-au region would require some degree of inward migration. One way to realize these different formation scenarios is to use different gas disk models. In this study we investigate whether different scenarios can be realized within a single framework. We consider a disk model that evolves via disk winds and develops a density peak, and study planet formation and orbital evolution using N-body simulations. Planets with masses less than an Earth mass formed from a low-mass ring resembling the solar system do not migrate inward even in the evolving disk and remain near 1-au orbits, maintaining a high radial mass concentration. On the other hand, planets with masses greater than an Earth mass formed from a massive ring slowly migrate inward above the outward migration region. As a result, the innermost planet can move to an orbit of about 10 days. The simulation results also reproduce the characteristics (e.g., mass distribution, eccentricity, orbital separation) of the solar system and super-Earth/sub-Neptune systems. Our model predicts that Earths and sub-Earths formed by migration from rings at near the 1-au region are less abundant in the close-in region., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

In the context of low-viscosity protoplanetary discs (PPDs), the formation scenarios of the Solar System should be revisited. In particular, the Jupiter-Saturn pair has been shown to lock in the 2:1 mean motion resonance while migrating generally inwards, making the Grand Tack scenario impossible. We explore what resonant chains of multiple giant planets can form in a low-viscosity disc, and whether these configurations can evolve into forming the Solar System in the post gas disc phase. We used hydrodynamical simulations to study the migration of the giant planets in a disc with viscosity $\alpha=10^{-4}$. After a transition phase to a gas-less configuration, we studied the stability of the obtained resonant chains through their interactions with a disc of leftover planetesimals by performing N-body simulations using rebound. The gaps open by giant planets are wider and deeper for lower viscosity, reducing the damping effect of the disc and thus weakening resonant chains. Exploring numerous configurations, we found five stable resonant chains of four or five planets. In a thin PPD, the four giant planets revert their migration and migrate outwards. After disc dispersal, under the influence of a belt of planetesimals, some resonant chains undergo an instability phase while others migrate smoothly over a billion years. For three of our resonant chains, about 1% of the final configurations pass the four criteria to fit the Solar System. The most successful runs are obtained for systems formed in a cold PPD with a massive planetesimal disc. This work provides a fully consistent study of the dynamical history of the Solar System's giant planets, from the protoplanetary disc phase up to the giant planet instability. Although building resonant configurations is difficult in low-viscosity discs, we find it possible to reproduce the Solar System from a cold, low-viscosity protoplanetary disc., Comment: 13 Pages, 13 Figures, Accepted for publications in A&A

Trappist-1 hosts 7 planets where period ratios of neighbouring pairs are close to the 8:5, 5:3, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, and 3:2 ratios in increasing distance from the star. The Laplace angles associated with neighbouring triplets are observed to be librating, proving the resonant nature of the system. This compact, resonant configuration is a manifest sign of disc-driven migration; however, the preferred outcome of such evolution is the establishment of first-order resonances, not the high-order resonances observed in the inner system. Here, we explain the observed orbital configuration in a model that is largely independent on the specific disc migration and orbital circularisation efficiencies. Together with migration, the two key elements of our model are: i) the inner border of the protoplanetary disc receded with time; and ii) the system was initially separated in two sub-systems. Specifically, the inner b, c d and e planets were initially placed in a 3:2 resonance chain and then evolved to the 8:5 -- 5:3 commensurability between planets b, c and d under the effect of the recession of the inner edge of the disc, whereas the outer planets migrated to the inner edge at a later time, establishing the remaining resonances. Our results pivot on the dynamical role of the presently unobservable recession of the inner edge of protoplanetary discs. They also reveal the role of recurring phases of convergent migration followed by resonant repulsion with associated orbital circularisation when resonant chains interact with migration barriers., Comment: To appear in Nature Astronomy

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is ESA's M3 mission designed to detect and characterise extrasolar planets and perform asteroseismic monitoring of a large number of stars. PLATO will detect small planets (down to <2 R_(Earth)) around bright stars (<11 mag), including terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. With the complement of radial velocity observations from the ground, planets will be characterised for their radius, mass, and age with high accuracy (5 %, 10 %, 10 % for an Earth-Sun combination respectively). PLATO will provide us with a large-scale catalogue of well-characterised small planets up to intermediate orbital periods, relevant for a meaningful comparison to planet formation theories and to better understand planet evolution. It will make possible comparative exoplanetology to place our Solar System planets in a broader context. In parallel, PLATO will study (host) stars using asteroseismology, allowing us to determine the stellar properties with high accuracy, substantially enhancing our knowledge of stellar structure and evolution. The payload instrument consists of 26 cameras with 12cm aperture each. For at least four years, the mission will perform high-precision photometric measurements. Here we review the science objectives, present PLATO's target samples and fields, provide an overview of expected core science performance as well as a description of the instrument and the mission profile at the beginning of the serial production of the flight cameras. PLATO is scheduled for a launch date end 2026. This overview therefore provides a summary of the mission to the community in preparation of the upcoming operational phases.

In our recent work, we combined dynamical simulations, meteoritic data and thermal models as well as asteroid observations to argue that the current parent body of the EL meteorites was implanted into the asteroid belt not earlier than 60 Myr after the beginning of the Solar System and that the most likely capture mechanism was the giant planet orbital instability. In the study "The link between Athor and EL meteorites does not constrain the timing of the giant planet instability" that appeared in arXiv, Izidoro and collaborators argue that the implantation of Athor into the asteroid belt does not necessarily require that the giant planet orbital instability occurred at the implantation time. Here we provide further arguments that, in the end, the giant planet instability is still the most likely dynamical process to implant asteroid Athor into the asteroid main belt between 60 and 100 Myr after the beginning of the Solar System., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; comment on arXiv:2404.10828

Mercury is notoriously difficult to form in solar system simulations, due to its small mass and iron-rich composition. Smooth particle hydrodynamics simulations of collisions have found that a Mercury-like body could be formed by one or multiple giant impacts, but due to the chaotic nature of collisions it is difficult to create a scenario where such impacts will take place. Recent work has found more success forming Mercury analogues by adding additional embryos near Mercury's orbit. In this work, we aim to form Mercury by simulating the formation of the solar system in the presence of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. We test out the effect of an inner disk of embryos added on to the commonly-used narrow annulus of initial material. We form Mercury analogues with core-mass fractions (CMF) $> 0.4$ in $\sim 10\%$ of our simulations, and twice that number of Mercury analogues form during the formation process, but are unstable and do not last to the end of the simulations. Mercury analogues form at similar rates for both disks with and without an inner component, and most of our Mercury analogues have lower CMF than that of Mercury, $\sim 0.7$, due to significant accretion of debris material. We suggest that a more in-depth understanding of the fraction of debris mass that is lost to collisional grinding is necessary to understand Mercury's formation, or some additional mechanism is required to stop this debris from accreting., Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ

The solar system's distant reaches exhibit a wealth of anomalous dynamical structure, hinting at the presence of a yet-undetected, massive trans-Neptunian body - Planet 9. Previous analyses have shown how orbital evolution induced by this object can explain the origins of a broad assortment of exotic orbits, ranging from those characterized by high perihelia to those with extreme inclinations. In this work, we shift the focus toward a more conventional class of TNOs, and consider the observed census of long-period, nearly planar, Neptune-crossing objects as a hitherto-unexplored probe of the Planet 9 hypothesis. To this end, we carry out comprehensive $N-$body simulations that self-consistently model gravitational perturbations from all giant planets, the Galactic tide, as well as passing stars, stemming from initial conditions that account for the primordial giant planet migration and sun's early evolution within a star cluster. Accounting for observational biases, our results reveal that the orbital architecture of this group of objects aligns closely with the predictions of the P9-inclusive model. In stark contrast, the P9-free scenario is statistically rejected at a $\sim5\,\sigma$ confidence-level. Accordingly, this work introduces a new line of evidence supporting the existence of Planet 9 and further delineates a series of observational predictions poised for near-term resolution., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

The tumultuous early era of outer solar system evolution culminated when Neptune migrated across the primordial Kuiper belt (PKB) and triggered a dynamical instability among the giant planets. This event led to the ejection of approximately 99.9\% of the PKB (here called the destabilized population), heavy bombardment of the giant planet satellites, and the capture of Jupiter's Trojans. While this scenario has been widely tested using dynamical models, there have been fewer investigations into how the PKB, its destabilized population, and the Trojans experienced collisional evolution. Here we examined this issue for all three populations with the code Boulder. Our constraints included the size-frequency distributions (SFDs) of the Trojan asteroids and craters on the giant planet satellites. Using this combination, we solved for the unknown disruption law affecting bodies in these populations. The weakest ones, from an impact energy per mass perspective, were 20 m in diameter. Overall, collisional evolution produces a power-law-like shape for multikilometer Trojans and a wavy-shaped SFD in the PKB and destabilized populations. The latter can explain (i) the shapes of the ancient and younger crater SFDs observed on the giant planet satellites, (ii) the shapes of the Jupiter family and long-period comet SFDs, which experienced different degrees of collision evolution, and (iii) the present-day impact frequency of superbolides on Jupiter and smaller projectiles on Saturn's rings. Our model results also indicate that many observed comets, most which are smaller than 10 km in diameter, are likely to be gravitational aggregates formed by large-scale collision events., Comment: 95 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in PSJ

Understanding planetesimal formation is an essential first step to understanding planet formation. The distribution of these first solid bodies will drive the locations where planetary embryos can grow. We seek to understand the parameter space of possible protoplanetary disk formation and evolution models of our Solar System. A good protoplanetary disk scenario for the Solar System must meet at least the following three criteria: 1) an extended dust disk (at least 45 au); 2) formation of planetesimals in at least two distinct locations; and 3) transport of high temperatures condensates (i.e., calcium-aluminium-rich inclusion, CAIs) to the outer disk. We explore a large parameter space to study the effect of the disk viscosity, the timescale of infall of material into the disk, the distance within which material is deposited into the disk, and the fragmentation threshold of dust particles. We find that scenarios with a large initial disk viscosity ($\alpha>0.05$), relatively short infall timescale ($T_{infall}<100-200$ kyr), and a small centrifugal radius ($R_C\sim0.4$~au; the distance within which material falls into the disk) result in disks that satisfy the criteria for a good protoplanetary disk of the Solar System. The large initial viscosity and short infall timescale result in a rapid initial expansion of the disk, which we dub the inflationary phase of the disk. Furthermore, a temperature-dependent fragmentation threshold, which mimics that cold icy particles break more easily, results in larger and more massive disks. This results in more "icy" than "rocky" planetesimals. Such scenarios are also better in line with our Solar System, which has small terrestrial planets and massive giant planet cores. Finally, we find that scenarios with large $R_C$ cannot transport CAIs to the outer disk and do not produce planetesimals at two locations within the disk., Comment: accepted to be published in A&A

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are a transient population of small bodies with orbits near or in the terrestrial planet region. They represent a mid-stage in the dynamical cycle of asteroids and comets, which starts with their removal from the respective source regions -- the main belt and trans-Neptunian scattered disk -- and ends as bodies impact planets, disintegrate near the Sun, or are ejected from the Solar System. Here we develop a new orbital model of NEOs by numerically integrating asteroid orbits from main belt sources and calibrating the results on observations of the Catalina Sky Survey. The results imply a size-dependent sampling of the main belt with the $\nu_6$ and 3:1 resonances producing $\simeq 30$\% of NEOs with absolute magnitudes $H = 15$ and $\simeq 80$\% of NEOs with $H = 25$. Hence, the large and small NEOs have different orbital distributions. The inferred flux of $H<18$ bodies into the 3:1 resonance can be sustained only if the main-belt asteroids near the resonance drift toward the resonance at the maximal Yarkovsky rate ($\simeq 2 \times 10^{-4}$ au Myr$^{-1}$ for diameter $D=1$ km and semimajor axis $a=2.5$~au). This implies obliquities $\theta \simeq 0^\circ$ for $a<2.5$~au and $\theta \simeq 180^\circ$ for $a>2.5$~au, both in the immediate neighborhood of the resonance (the same applies to other resonances as well). We confirm the size-dependent disruption of asteroids near the Sun found in previous studies. An interested researcher can use the publicly available NEOMOD Simulator to generate user-defined samples of NEOs from our model., Comment: AJ

After performing a reassessment of the known dynamical asteroid families in the inner main belt, we report a newly discovered ancient asteroid family with an estimated age of $4.3\pm1.7$ billion years. Additionally, we report the most comprehensive list of planetesimals, which are asteroids that survived since the planet forming days of the solar system., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures

The lunar crater record features $\sim 50$ basins. The radiometric dating of Apollo samples indicates that the Imbrium basin formed relatively late -- from the planet formation perspective -- some $\simeq 3.9$ Ga. Here we develop a dynamical model for impactors in the inner solar system to provide context for the interpretation of the lunar crater record. The contribution of cometary impactors is found to be insignificant. Asteroids produced most large impacts on the terrestrial worlds in the last $\simeq 3$ Gyr. The great majority of early impactors were rocky planetesimals left behind at $\sim 0.5$--1.5 au after the terrestrial planet accretion. The population of terrestrial planetesimals was reduced by disruptive collisions in the first $t \sim 20$ Myr after the gas disk dispersal. We estimate that there were $\sim 4 \times 10^5$ diameter $d>10$ km bodies when the Moon formed (total planetesimal mass $\sim 0.015$ $M_{\rm Earth}$ at $t \sim 50$ Myr). The early bombardment of the Moon was intense. To accommodate $\sim 50$ known basins, the lunar basins that formed before $\simeq 4.35$--4.41 Ga must have been erased. The late formation of Imbrium occurs with a $\sim 15$--35\% probability in our model. About 20 $d>10$-km bodies were expected to hit the Earth between 2.5 and 3.5 Ga, which is comparable to the number of known spherule beds in the late Archean. We discuss implications of our model for the lunar/Martian crater chronologies, Late Veneer, and noble gases in the Earth atmosphere., Comment: Icarus, in press

The formation of super-Earths, the most abundant planets in the Galaxy, remains elusive. These planets have masses that typically exceed that of the Earth by a factor of a few; appear to be predominantly rocky, although often surrounded by H/He atmospheres; and frequently occur in multiples. Moreover, planets that encircle the same star tend to have similar masses and radii, whereas those belonging to different systems exhibit remarkable overall diversity. Here, we advance a theoretical picture for rocky planet formation that satisfies the aforementioned constraints: building upon recent work - which demonstrates that planetesimals can form rapidly at discrete locations in the disk - we propose that super-Earths originate inside rings of silicate-rich planetesimals at approximately ~1 AU. Within the context of this picture, we show that planets grow primarily through pairwise collisions among rocky planetesimals, until they achieve terminal masses that are regulated by isolation and orbital migration. We quantify our model with numerical simulations and demonstrate that our synthetic planetary systems bear a close resemblance to compact, multi-resonant progenitors of the observed population of short-period extrasolar planets. Our results thus indicate that the absence of short-period super-Earths within the solar system can simply be attributed to the comparatively low mass of the primordial planetesimal ring within the protosolar nebula., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy

Rocky planets both in and outside of our solar system are observed to have a range of core-mass fractions (CMFs). Imperfect collisions can preferentially strip mantle material from a planet, changing its CMF, and are therefore thought to be the most likely cause of this observed CMF variation. However, previous work that implements these collisions into N-body simulations of planet formation has struggled to reliably form high CMF super-Earths. In this work, we specify our initial conditions and simulation parameters to maximize the prevalence of high-energy, CMF-changing collisions in order to form planets with highly diverse CMFs. High-energy collisions have a large $v_{imp}/v_{esc}$ ratio, so we maximize this ratio by starting simulations with high-eccentricity and inclination disks to increase the difference in their orbital velocities, maximizing $v_{imp}$. Additionally, we minimize $v_{esc}$ by starting with small embryos. The final planets undergo more high-energy, debris-producing collisions, and experience significant CMF change over their formation. However, we find that a number of processes work together to average out the CMF of a planet over time, therefore we do not consistently form high-CMF, high mass planets. We do form high-CMF planets below 0.5 $M_{\oplus}$. Additionally, we find in these highly eccentric environments, loss of debris mass due to collisional grinding has a significant effect on final planet masses and CMFs, resulting in smaller planets and a higher average planet CMF. This work highlights the importance of improving measurements of high-density planets to better constrain their CMFs., Comment: 19 pages. This paper has been accepted to ApJ

The Moon holds important clues to the early evolution of the Solar System. Some 50 impact basins (crater diameter D>300 km) have been recognized on the lunar surface, implying that the early impact flux was much higher than it is now. The basin-forming impactors were suspected to be asteroids released from an inner extension of the main belt (1.8-2.0 au). Here we show that most impactors were instead rocky planetesimals left behind at 0.5-1.5 au after the terrestrial planet accretion. The number of basins expected from impacts of leftover planetesimals largely exceeds the number of known lunar basins, suggesting that the first 200 Myr of impacts is not recorded on the lunar surface. The Imbrium basin formation (age 3.92 Gyr; impactor diameter d~100 km) occurs with a 15-35% probability in our model. Imbrium must have formed unusually late to have only two smaller basins (Orientale and Schrodinger) forming afterwards. The model predicts 20 d>10-km impacts on the Earth 2.5-3.5 Gyr ago (Ga), which is comparable to the number of known spherule beds in the late Archean., Comment: ApJL, in press

This chapter of the Planetary Exploration Horizon 2061 Report reviews the way the six key questions about planetary systems, from their origins to the way they work and their habitability, identified in chapter 1, can be addressed by means of solar system exploration, and how one can find partial answers to these six questions by flying to the different provinces to the solar system: terrestrial planets, giant planets, small bodies, and up to its interface with the local interstellar medium. It derives from this analysis a synthetic description of the most important space observations to be performed at the different solar system objects by future planetary exploration missions. These observation requirements illustrate the diversity of measurement techniques to be used as well as the diversity of destinations where these observations must be made. They constitute the base for the identification of the future planetary missions we need to fly by 2061, which are described in chapter 4. Q1- How well do we understand the diversity of planetary systems objects? Q2- How well do we understand the diversity of planetary system architectures? Q3- What are the origins and formation scenarios for planetary systems? Q4- How do planetary systems work? Q5- Do planetary systems host potential habitats? Q6- Where and how to search for life?, Comment: 107 pages, 37 figures, Horizon 2061 is a science-driven, foresight exercise, for future scientific investigations

The migration history of Jupiter in the sun's natal disk remains poorly constrained. Here we consider how Jupiter's migration affects small-body reservoirs and how this constrains its original orbital distance from the Sun. We study the implications of large-scale and inward radial migration of Jupiter for the inner solar system while considering the effects of collisional evolution of planetesimals. We use analytical prescriptions to simulate the growth and migration of Jupiter in the gas disk. We assume the existence of a planetesimal disk inside Jupiter's initial orbit. This planetesimal disk received an initial total mass and size-frequency distribution (SFD). Planetesimals feel the effects of aerodynamic gas drag and collide with one another, mostly while shepherded by the migrating Jupiter. Our main goal is to measure the amount of mass in planetesimals implanted into the main asteroid belt (MAB) and the SFD of the implanted population. We also monitor the amount of dust produced during planetesimal collisions. We find that the SFD of the planetesimal population implanted into the MAB tends to resemble that of the original planetesimal population interior to Jupiter. We also find that unless very little or no mass existed between 5 au and Jupiter's original orbit, it would be difficult to reconcile the current low mass of the MAB with the possibility that Jupiter migrated from distances beyond 15 au. This is because the fraction of the original disk mass that gets implanted into the MAB is very large. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results in terms of dust production to the so-called NC-CC isotopic dichotomy., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters; In press

Uncovering the formation process that reproduces the distinct properties of compact super-Earth exoplanet systems is a major goal of planet formation theory. The most successful model argues that non-resonant systems begin as resonant chains of planets that later experience a dynamical instability. However, both the boundary of stability in resonant chains and the mechanism of the instability itself are poorly understood. Previous work postulated that a secondary resonance between the fastest libration frequency and a difference in synodic frequencies destabilizes the system. Here, we use that hypothesis to produce a simple and general criterion for resonant chain stability that depends only on planet orbital periods and masses. We show that the criterion accurately predicts the maximum mass of planets in synthetic resonant chains up to six planets. More complicated resonant chains produced in population synthesis simulations are found to be less stable than expected, although our criterion remains useful and superior to machine learning models., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted to Icarus

Earth is depleted in volatile elements relative to chondritic meteorites, its possible building blocks. The extent of this depletion increases with decreasing condensation temperature, and is approximated by a cumulative normal distribution, unlike that in any chondrite. However, moderately volatile elements, occupying the mid-range of the distribution, have chondritic isotope ratios, contrary to that expected from loss by partial vaporisation/condensation. Here we reconcile these observations by showing, using N-body simulations, that Earth accreted stochastically from many precursor bodies whose variable compositions reflect the temperatures at which they formed. Impact-induced atmospheric loss was efficient only when the proto-Earth was small, and elements that accreted thereafter retain near-chondritic isotope ratios. Earth's composition is reproduced when initial temperatures of planetesimal- to embryo-sized bodies are set by disk accretion rates of (1.08 $\pm$ 0.17) $\times$ 10$^{-7}$ solar masses/yr, although they may be perturbed by $^{26}$Al heating on bodies formed at different times. The model implies a heliocentric gradient in composition and rapid planetesimal formation within $\sim$ 1 Myr, in accord with radiometric volatile depletion ages of Earth., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Nat Astron (2022)

Various physical processes that ensue within protoplanetary disks -- including vertical settling of icy/rocky grains, radial drift of solids, planetesimal formation, as well as planetary accretion itself -- are facilitated by hydrodynamic interactions between H/He gas and high-$Z$ dust. The Stokes number, which quantifies the strength of dust-gas coupling, thus plays a central role in protoplanetary disk evolution, and its poor determination constitutes an important source of uncertainty within the theory of planet formation. In this work, we present a simple model for dust-gas coupling, and demonstrate that for a specified combination of the nebular accretion rate, $\dot{M}$, and turbulence parameter, $\alpha$, the radial profile of the Stokes number can be calculated uniquely. Our model indicates that the Stokes number grows sub-linearly with orbital radius, but increases dramatically across the water-ice line. For fiducial protoplanetary disk parameters of $\dot{M}=10^{-8}\,M_{\odot}/$year and $\alpha=10^{-3}$, our theory yields characteristic values of the Stokes number on the order of $\mathrm{St}\sim10^{-4}$ (corresponding to $\sim$mm-sized silicate dust) in the inner nebula and $\mathrm{St}\sim10^{-1}$ (corresponding to $\sim$few-cm-sized icy grains), in the outer regions of the disk. Accordingly, solids are expected to settle into a thin sub-disk at large stellocentric distances, while remaining vertically well-mixed inside the ice line., Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Our understanding of planet formation has been rapidly evolving in recent years. The classical planet formation theory, developed when the only known planetary system was our own Solar System, has been revised to account for the observed diversity of the exoplanetary systems. At the same time, the increasing observational capabilities of the young stars and their surrounding disks bring new constraints on the planet formation process. In this chapter, we summarize the new information derived from the exoplanets population and the circumstellar disks observations. We present the new developments in planet formation theory, from dust evolution to the growth of planetary cores by accretion of planetesimals, pebbles, and gas. We review the state-of-the-art models for the formation of diverse planetary systems, including the population synthesis approach which is necessary to compare theoretical model outcomes to the exoplanet population. We emphasize that the planet formation process may not be spatially uniform in the disk and there are preferential locations for the formation of planetesimals and planets. Outside of these locations, a significant fraction of solids is not growing past the pebble-sizes. The reservoir of pebbles plays an important role in the growth of planetary cores in the pebble accretion process. The timescale of the emergence of massive planetary cores is an important aspect of the present models and it is likely that the cores within one disk form at different times. In addition, there is growing evidence that the first planetary cores start forming early, during the circumstellar disk buildup process., Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, review chapter accepted to Protostars and Planets VII, editors: Shu-ichiro Inutsuka, Yuri Aikawa, Takayuki Muto, Kengo Tomida, and Motohide Tamura, corrected label in Fig. 1

The Dwarf Planet Ceres revealed the presence of ammonia and other unique properties compared to other asteroids in the main belt which suggests that it was not formed in situ. We model the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System to study possible dynamical mechanisms to implant a Ceres-sized planetesimal in the asteroid belt from the trans-Saturnian region. We calculate that the fraction of the population of Ceres-sized planetesimals that are captured in the asteroid belt is in the range of 2.8e-5 to 1.2e-3 depending on the initial location in the outer planetesimal disk. The captured bodies have a 70% probability to have a semimajor axis between 2.5 and 3 au, a 33% probability to have an eccentricity smaller than 0.2 and a 45% probability to have an orbital inclination smaller than 10 degrees. Assuming the existence of 3,600 Ceres-size planetesimals in the inner part of the trans-Saturnian disk, consistent with the estimate of Nesvorny & Vokrouhlicky (2016) for the trans-Neptunian disk, our estimated capture probability and a final 80% depletion of the asteroid belt during the subsequent giant planet instability, lead to capture 1 Ceres in the asteroid belt, with a probability of 15%, 34%, and 51% to be located in the inner, middle and outer belt respectively.

Two fundamentally different processes of rocky planet formation exist, but it is unclear which one built the terrestrial planets of the solar system. Either they formed by collisions among planetary embryos from the inner solar system, or by accreting sunward-drifting millimeter-sized 'pebbles' from the outer solar system. We show that the isotopic compositions of Earth and Mars are governed by two-component mixing among inner solar system materials, including material from the innermost disk unsampled by meteorites, whereas the contribution of outer solar system material is limited to a few percent by mass. This refutes a pebble accretion origin of the terrestrial planets, but is consistent with collisional growth from inner solar system embryos. The low fraction of outer solar system material in Earth and Mars indicates the presence of a persistent dust-drift barrier in the disk, highlighting the specific pathway of rocky planet formation in the solar system., Comment: combined main test + supplement of published article

The formation of planetesimals is expected to occur via particle-gas instabilities that concentrate dust into self-gravitating clumps. Triggering these instabilities requires the prior pileup of dust in the protoplanetary disk. Until now, this has been successfully modeled exclusively at the disk's snowline, whereas rocky planetesimals in the inner disk were obtained only by assuming either unrealistically large particle sizes or an enhanced global disk metallicity. However, planetesimal formation solely at the snowline is difficult to reconcile with the early and contemporaneous formation of iron meteorite parent bodies with distinct oxidation states and isotopic compositions, indicating formation at different radial locations in the disk. Here, by modeling the evolution of a disk with ongoing accretion of material from the collapsing molecular cloud, we show that planetesimal formation may have been triggered within the first 0.5 million years by dust pileup at both the snowline (at approximately 5 au) and the silicate sublimation line (at approximately 1 au), provided turbulent diffusion was low. Particle concentration at approximately 1 au is due to the early outward radial motion of gas and is assisted by the sublimation and recondensation of silicates. Our results indicate that, although the planetesimals at the two locations formed about contemporaneously, those at the snowline accreted a large fraction of their mass (approximately 60 percent) from materials delivered to the disk in the first few 10,000 yr, whereas this fraction is only 30 percent for the planetesimals formed at the silicate line. Thus, provided that the isotopic composition of the delivered material changed with time, these two planetesimal populations should have distinct isotopic compositions, consistent with observations., Comment: Published online in Nature Astronomy on Dec. 22, 2021

Our galaxy is full with planets. We now know that planets and planetary systems are diverse and come with different sizes, masses and compositions, as well as various orbital architectures. Although there has been great progress in understanding planet formation in the last couple of decades, both observationally and theoretically, several fundamental questions remain unsolved. This might not be surprising given the complexity of the process that includes various physical and chemical processes, and spans huge ranges of length-scales, masses, and timescales. In addition, planet formation cannot be directly observed but has to be inferred by gluing together different pieces of information into one consistent picture. "How do planets form?" remains a fundamental question in modern astrophysics. In this review we list some of the key open questions in planet formation theory as well as the challenges and upcoming opportunities., Comment: To appear as a book chapter in "ExoFrontiers: Big questions in exoplanetary science", Ed. N Madhusudhan (Bristol: IOP Publishing Ltd) AAS-IOP ebooks https://iopscience.iop.org/bookListInfo/aas-iop-astronomy

The formation of planetesimals was a key step in the assemblage of planetary bodies, yet many aspects of their formation remain poorly constrained. Notably, the mechanism by which chondrules -- sub-millimetric spheroids that dominate primitive meteorites -- were incorporated into planetesimals remains poorly understood. Here we classify and analyze particle-size distributions in various CO carbonaceous chondrites found in the Atacama Desert. Our results show that the average circle-equivalent diameters of chondrules define a positive trend with the petrographic grade, which reflects the progressive role of thermal metamorphism within the CO parent body. We show that this relationship could not have been established by thermal metamorphism alone but rather by aerodynamic sorting during accretion. By modeling the self-gravitational contraction of clumps of chondrules, we show that (i) the accretion of the CO parent body(ies) would have generated a gradual change of chondrule size with depth in the parent body, with larger chondrules being more centrally concentrated than smaller ones, and (ii) any subsequent growth by pebble accretion would have been insignificant. These findings give substantial support to the view that planetesimals formed via gravitational collapse., Comment: Accepted in ApJL. 24 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, 1 appendix

The importance of highly siderophile elements (HSEs) to track planetary late accretion has long been recognized. However, the precise nature of the Moon's accretional history remains enigmatic. There exists a significant mismatch of HSE budgets between the Earth and Moon, with the Earth disproportionally accreted far more HSEs than the Moon did. Several scenarios have been proposed to explain this conundrum, including the delivery of HSEs to Earth by a few big impactors, the accretion of pebble-sized objects on dynamically cold orbits that enhanced the Earth's gravitational focusing factor, and the "sawtooth model" with much reduced impact flux before ~4.10 Gyr. However, most of these models assume a high impactor retention ratio f (fraction of impactor mass retained on the target) for the Moon. Here, we performed a series of impact simulations to quantify the f-value, followed by a Monte Carlo procedure enacting a monotonically decaying impact flux, to compute the mass accreted into lunar crust and mantle over their histories. We found that the average f-value for the Moon's entire impact history is about 3 times lower than previously estimated. Our results indicate that, to match the HSE budget of lunar crust and mantle, the retention of HSEs should have started ~ 4.35 Gyr ago, when most of lunar magma ocean was solidified. Mass accreted prior to 4.35 Gyr must have lost its HSE to the lunar core, presumably during the lunar mantle crystallization. The combination of a low impactor retention ratio and a late retention of HSEs in the lunar mantle provide a realistic explanation for the apparent deficit of Moon's late accreted mass relative to the Earth., Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures

The Moon exhibits striking geological asymmetries in elevation, crustal thickness, and composition between its nearside and farside. Although several scenarios have been proposed to explain these asymmetries, their origin remains debated. Recent remote sensing observations suggest that (1) the crust on the farside highlands consists of two layers: a primary anorthositic layer with thickness of ~30-50 km and on top a more mafic-rich layer ~10 km thick; and (2) the nearside exhibits a large area of low-Ca pyroxene that has been interpreted to have an impact origin. These observations support the idea that the lunar nearside-farside asymmetries may be the result of a giant impact. Here, using quantitative numerical modeling, we test the hypothesis that a giant impact on the early Moon can explain the striking differences in elevation, crustal thickness, and composition between the nearside and farside of the Moon. We find that a large impactor, impacting the current nearside with a low velocity, can form a mega-basin and reproduce the characteristics of the crustal asymmetry and structures comparable to those observed on the current Moon, including the nearside lowlands and the farside's mafic-rich layer on top of a primordial anorthositic crust. Our model shows that the excavated deep-seated KREEP (potassium, rare-earth elements, and phosphorus) material, deposited close to the basin rim, slumps back into the basin and covers the entire basin floor; subsequent large impacts can transport the shallow KREEP material to the surface, resulting in its observed distribution. In addition, our model suggests that prior to the asymmetry-forming impact, the Moon may have had an 182W anomaly compared to the immediate post-giant impact Earth's mantle, as predicted if the Moon was created through a giant collision with the proto-Earth., Comment: 45 pages, 12 figures

The final orbital position of growing planets is determined by their migration speed, which is essentially set by the planetary mass. Small mass planets migrate in type I migration, while more massive planets migrate in type II migration, which is thought to depend mostly on the viscous evolution rate of the disc. A planet is most vulnerable to inward migration before it reaches type II migration and can lose a significant fraction of its semi-major axis at this stage. We investigated the influence of different disc viscosities, the dynamical torque and gas accretion from within the horseshoe region as mechanisms for slowing down planet migration. Our study confirms that planets growing in low viscosity environments migrate less, due to the earlier gap opening and slower type II migration rate. We find that taking the gas accretion from the horseshoe region into account allows an earlier gap opening and this results in less inward migration of growing planets. Furthermore, this effect increases the planetary mass compared to simulations that do not take the effect of gas accretion from the horseshoe region. Moreover, combining the effect of the dynamical torque with the effect of gas accretion from the horseshoe region, significantly slows down inward migration. Taking these effects into account could allow the formation of cold Jupiters (a > 1 au) closer to the water ice line region compared to previous simulations that did not take these effects into account. We thus conclude that gas accretion from within the horseshoe region and the dynamical torque play crucial roles in shaping planetary systems., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)

Impact rates in the first 500 Myr of the solar system are critical to an understanding of lunar geological history, but they have been controversial. The widely accepted, post-Apollo paradigm of early lunar impact cratering (ca. 1975-2014) proposed very low or negligible impact cratering in the period from accretion (>4.4 Ga) to about 4.0 Ga ago, followed by a 170-million-year-long spike of cataclysmic cratering, during which most prominent multi-ring impact basins formed at age of about 3.9 Ga. More recent dynamical models suggest very early intense impact rates, declining throughout the period from accretion until an age of about 3.0 Ga. These models remove the basin-forming spike. This shift has important consequences on megaregolith evolution and properties of rock samples that can be collected on the lunar surface today. We adopt the Morbidelli et al. (2018) "accretion tail" model of early intense bombardment, declining as a function of time. We find effects differing from the previous models: early crater saturation and supersaturation; disturbance of magma ocean solidification; deep early megaregolith; and erosive destruction of the earliest multi-ring basins, their impact melts, and their ejecta blankets. Our results explain observations such as differences in numbers of early lunar impact melts vs. numbers of early igneous crustal rocks, highland breccias containing impact melts as old as 4.35 Ga, absence of a 170 Myr-long spike in impact melt ages at 3.9 Ga among lunar and asteroidal meteorites, and GRAIL observations of lunar crustal structure., Comment: in press in Meteoritics and Planetary Science (MAPS)

Recent advances in our understanding of the dynamical history of the Solar system have altered the inferred bombardment history of the Earth during accretion of the Late Veneer, after the Moon-forming impact. We investigate how the bombardment by planetesimals left-over from the terrestrial planet region after terrestrial planet formation, as well as asteroids and comets, affects the evolution of Earth's early atmosphere. We develop a new statistical code of stochastic bombardment for atmosphere evolution, combining prescriptions for atmosphere loss and volatile delivery derived from hydrodynamic simulations and theory with results from dynamical modelling of realistic populations of impactors. We find that for an initially Earth-like atmosphere impacts cause moderate atmospheric erosion with stochastic delivery of large asteroids giving substantial growth ($\times 10$) in a few $\%$ of cases. The exact change in atmosphere mass is inherently stochastic and dependent on the dynamics of the left-over planetesimals. We also consider the dependence on unknowns including the impactor volatile content, finding that the atmosphere is typically completely stripped by especially dry left-over planetesimals ($<0.02 ~ \%$ volatiles). Remarkably, for a wide range of initial atmosphere masses and compositions, the atmosphere converges towards similar final masses and compositions, i.e. initially low mass atmospheres grow whereas massive atmospheres deplete. While the final properties are sensitive to the assumed impactor properties, the resulting atmosphere mass is close to that of current Earth. The exception to this is that a large initial atmosphere cannot be eroded to the current mass unless the atmosphere was initially primordial in composition., Comment: 30 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present time-resolved visible spectrophotometry of minimoon 2020 CD$_3$, the second asteroid known to become temporarily captured by the Earth-Moon system's gravitational field. The spectrophotometry was taken with Keck I/LRIS between wavelengths 434 nm and 912 nm in $B$, $g$, $V$, $R$, $I$ and RG850 filters as it was leaving the Earth-Moon system on 2020 March 23 UTC. The spectrophotometry of 2020 CD$_3$ most closely resembles the spectra of V-type asteroids and some Lunar rock samples with a reddish slope of ~18$\%$/100 nm between 434 nm and 761 nm corresponding to colors of $g$-$r$ = 0.62$\pm$0.08, $r$-$i$ = 0.21 $\pm$ 0.06 and an absorption band at ~900 nm corresponding to $i$-$z$ = -0.54$\pm$0.10. Combining our measured 31.9$\pm$0.1 absolute magnitude with an albedo of 0.35 typical for V-type asteroids, we determine 2020 CD$_3$'s diameter to be ~0.9$\pm$0.1 m making it the first minimoon and one of the smallest asteroids to be spectrally studied. We use our time-series photometry to detect periodic lightcurve variations with a $<$10$^{-4}$ false alarm probability corresponding to a lightcurve period of ~573 s and a lightcurve amplitude of ~1 mag implying 2020 CD$_3$ possesses a $b/a$ axial ratio of ~2.5. In addition, we extend the observational arc of 2020 CD$_3$ to 37 days between 2020 February 15 UTC and 2020 March 23 UTC. From the improved orbital solution for 2020 CD$_3$, we estimate its likely duration of its capture to be ~2 y, and we measure the non-gravitation perturbation on its orbit due to radiation pressure with an area-to-mass ratio of 6.9$\pm$2.4$\times$10$^{-4}$ m$^2$/kg implying a density of 2.3$\pm$0.8 g/cm$^3$, broadly compatible with the densities of other meter-scale asteroids and Lunar rock. We searched for pre-discovery detections of 2020 CD$_3$ in the ZTF archive as far back as 2018 October, but were unable to locate any positive detections., Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 3 Tables, accepted for publication in ApJL

The fundamentally different isotopic compositions of non-carbonaceous (NC) and carbonaceous (CC) meteorites reveal the presence of two distinct reservoirs in the solar protoplanetary disk that were likely separated by Jupiter. However, the extent of material exchange between these reservoirs, and how this affected the composition of the inner disk are not known. Here we show that NC meteorites display broadly correlated isotopic variations for Mo, Ti, Cr, and Ni, indicating the addition of isotopically distinct material to the inner disk. The added material resembles bulk CC meteorites and Ca-Al-rich inclusions in terms of its enrichment in neutron-rich isotopes, but unlike the latter materials is also enriched in s-process nuclides. The comparison of the isotopic composition of NC meteorites with the accretion ages of their parent bodies reveals that the isotopic variations within the inner disk do not reflect a continuous compositional change through the addition of CC dust, indicating an efficient separation of the NC and CC reservoirs and limited exchange of material between the inner and outer disk. Instead, the isotopic variations among NC meteorites more likely record a rapidly changing composition of the disk during infall from the Sun's parental molecular cloud, where each planetesimal locks the instant composition of the disk when it forms. A corollary of this model is that late-formed planetesimals in the inner disk predominantly accreted from secondary dust that was produced by collisions among pre-existing NC planetesimals., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters, June 17, 2020

Recent analyses have shown that the concluding stages of giant planet formation are accompanied by the development of large-scale meridional flow of gas inside the planetary Hill sphere. This circulation feeds a circumplanetary disk that viscously expels gaseous material back into the parent nebula, maintaining the system in a quasi-steady state. Here we investigate the formation of natural satellites of Jupiter and Saturn within the framework of this newly outlined picture. We begin by considering the long-term evolution of solid material, and demonstrate that the circumplanetary disk can act as a global dust trap, where $s_{\bullet}\sim0.1-10\,$mm grains achieve a hydrodynamical equilibrium, facilitated by a balance between radial updraft and aerodynamic drag. This process leads to a gradual increase in the system's metallicity, and eventually culminates in the gravitational fragmentation of the outer regions of the solid sub-disk into $\mathcal{R}\sim100\,$km satellitesimals. Subsequently, satellite conglomeration ensues via pairwise collisions, but is terminated when disk-driven orbital migration removes the growing objects from the satellitesimal feeding zone. The resulting satellite formation cycle can repeat multiple times, until it is brought to an end by photo-evaporation of the parent nebula. Numerical simulations of the envisioned formation scenario yield satisfactory agreement between our model and the known properties of the Jovian and Saturnian moons., Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

There is evidence that most chains of mean motion resonances of type $k$:$k-1$ among exoplanets become unstable once the dissipative action from the gas is removed from the system, particularly for large $N$ (the number of planets) and $k$ (indicating how compact the chain is). We present a novel dynamical mechanism that can explain the origin of these instabilities and thus the dearth of resonant systems in the exoplanet sample. It relies on the emergence of secondary resonances between a fraction of the synodic frequency $2 \pi (1/P_1-1/P_2)$ and the libration frequencies in the mean motion resonance. These secondary resonances excite the amplitudes of libration of the mean motion resonances thus leading to an instability. We detail the emergence of these secondary resonances by carrying out an explicit perturbative scheme to second order in the planetary masses and isolating the harmonic terms that are associated with them. Focusing on the case of three planets in the 3:2 -- 3:2 mean motion resonance as an example, a simple but general analytical model of one of these resonances is obtained which describes the initial phase of the activation of one such secondary resonance. The dynamics of the excited system is also briefly described. This scheme shows how one can obtain analytical insight into the emergence of these resonances, and into the dynamics that they trigger. Finally, a generalisation of this dynamical mechanism is obtained for arbitrary $N$ and $k$. This leads to an explanation of previous numerical experiments on the stability of resonant chains, showing why the critical planetary mass allowed for stability decreases with increasing $N$ and $k$., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS

Context: Pebble accretion is expected to be the dominant process for the formation of massive solid planets, such as the cores of giant planets and super-Earths. So, far, this process has been studied under the assumption that dust coagulates and drifts throughout the full protoplanetary disk. However, observations show that many disks are structured in rings that may be due to pressure maxima, preventing the global radial drift of the dust. Aims: We study how the pebble-accretion paradigm changes if the dust is confined in a ring. Results: Planet Type-I migration is stopped in a ring, but not necessarily at its center. If the entropy-driven corotation torque is desaturated, the planet is located in a region with a low density of dust, which severely limits its accretion rate. If instead the planet is near the ring's center, its accretion rate can be similar to the one it would have in a classic (ring-less) disk of equivalent dust density. However, the growth rate of the planet is limited by the diffusion of dust in the ring and the final planet's mass is bounded by the total ring's mass. The DSHARP rings are too far from the star to allow the formation of massive planets within the disk's lifetime. However, a similar ring rescaled to 5 AU could lead to the formation of a planet incorporating the full ring's mass in less than 1/2 My. Conclusions: The existence of rings may not be an obstacle to planet formation by pebble-accretion. However, for accretion to be effective the resting position of the planet has to be relatively near the ring's center and the ring needs to be not too far from the central star. The formation of planets in rings can explain the existence of giant planets with core masses smaller than the so-called pebble isolation mass., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Recent observations of rocky super-Earths have revealed an apparent wider distribution of Fe/Mg ratios, or core to mantle ratios, than the planets in our Solar System. This study aims to understand how much of the chemical diversity in the super-Earth population can arise from giant impacts during planetary formation. Planet formation simulations have only recently begun to treat collisions more realistically in an attempt to replicate the planets in our Solar System. We investigate planet formation more generally by simulating the formation of rocky super-Earths with varying initial conditions using a version of SyMBA, a gravitational N-body code, that incorporates realistic collisions. We track the maximum plausible change in composition after each impact. The final planets span a range of Fe/Mg ratios similar to the Solar System planets, but do not completely match the distribution in super-Earth data. We only form a few planets with minor iron-depletion, suggesting other mechanisms are at work. The most iron-rich planets have a lower Fe/Mg ratio than Mercury, and are less enriched than planets such as Kepler-100b. This indicates that further work on our understanding of planet formation and further improvement of precision of mass and radius measurements are required to explain planets at the extremes of this Fe/Mg distribution., Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Models of planet formation are built on underlying physical processes. In order to make sense of the origin of the planets we must first understand the origin of their building blocks. This review comes in two parts. The first part presents a detailed description of six key mechanisms of planet formation: 1) The structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks 2) The formation of planetesimals 3) Accretion of protoplanets 4) Orbital migration of growing planets 5) Gas accretion and giant planet migration 6) Resonance trapping during planet migration. While this is not a comprehensive list, it includes processes for which our understanding has changed in recent years or for which key uncertainties remain. The second part of this review shows how global models are built out of planet formation processes. We present global models to explain different populations of known planetary systems, including close-in small/low-mass planets (i.e., super-Earths), giant exoplanets, and the Solar System's planets. We discuss the different sources of water on rocky exoplanets, and use cosmochemical measurements to constrain the origin of Earth's water. We point out the successes and failings of different models and how they may be falsified. Finally, we lay out a path for the future trajectory of planet formation studies., Comment: To appear in Lecture Notes of the 3rd Advanced School on Exoplanetary Science (Editors Mancini, Biazzo, Bozza, Sozzetti). 100 pages, 27 Figs

We extend the most recent orbital and absolute magnitude Near Earth Object (NEO) model (Granvik et al., 2018) to provide a statistical description of NEO geometric albedos. Our model is calibrated on NEOWISE albedo data for the NEO population and reproduces these data very well once a simple model for the NEOWISE observational biases is applied. The results are consistent with previous estimates. There are about 1,000 NEOs with diameter D>1km and the mean albedo to convert absolute magnitude into diameter is 0.147. We do not find any statistically significant evidence that the albedo distribution of NEOs depends on NEO size. Instead, we find evidence that the disruption of NEOs at small perihelion distances found in Granvik et al. (2016) occurs preferentially for dark NEOs. The interval between km-sized bodies striking the Earth should occur on average once every 750,000 years. Low and high albedo NEOs are well mixed in orbital space, but a trend remains with higher albedo objects being at smaller semimajor axes and lower albedo objects more likely found at larger semimajor axes., Comment: In press in Icarus

The dynamical structure of the Solar System can be explained by a period of orbital instability experienced by the giant planets. While a late instability was originally proposed to explain the Late Heavy Bombardment, recent work favors an early instability. We model the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System to self-consistently constrain the most likely timing of the instability. We first simulate the dynamical sculpting of the primordial outer planetesimal disk during the accretion of Uranus and Neptune from migrating planetary embryos during the gas disk phase, and determine the separation between Neptune and the inner edge of the planetesimal disk. We performed simulations with a range of migration histories for Jupiter. We find that, unless Jupiter migrated inwards by 10 AU or more, the instability almost certainly happened within 100 Myr of the start of Solar System formation. There are two distinct possible instability triggers. The first is an instability that is triggered by the planets themselves, with no appreciable influence from the planetesimal disk. Of those, the median instability time is $\sim4$Myr. Among self-stable systems -- where the planets are locked in a resonant chain that remains stable in the absence of a planetesimal's disk-- our self-consistently sculpted planetesimal disks nonetheless trigger a giant planet instability with a median instability time of 37-62 Myr for a reasonable range of migration histories of Jupiter. The simulations that give the latest instability times are those that invoked long-range inward migration of Jupiter from 15 AU or beyond; however these simulations over-excited the inclinations of Kuiper belt objects and are inconsistent with the present-day Solar System. We conclude on dynamical grounds that the giant planet instability is likely to have occurred early in Solar System history., Comment: 46 pages, 26 figures, Article reference YICAR_113605, https://authors.elsevier.com/tracking/article/details.do?aid=113605&jid=YICAR&surname=Ribeiro

The asteroid belt is characterized by an extreme low total mass of material on dynamically excited orbits. The Nice Model explains many peculiar qualities of the solar system, including the belt's excited state, by invoking an orbital instability between the outer planets. However, previous studies of the Nice Model's effect on the belt's structure struggle to reproduce the innermost asteroids' orbital inclination distribution. Here, we show how the final phase of giant planet migration sculpts the asteroid belt, in particular its inclination distribution. As interactions with leftover planetesimals cause Saturn to move away from Jupiter, its rate of orbital precession slows as the two planets' mutual interactions weaken. When the planets approach their modern separation, where Jupiter completes just short of five orbits for every two of Saturn's, Jupiter's eccentric forcing on Saturn strengthens. We use numerical simulations to show that the absence of asteroids with orbits that precess between 24-28 arcsec/yr is related to the inclination problem. As Saturn's precession speeds back up, high inclination asteroids are excited on to planet crossing orbits and removed from the inner main belt. Through this process, the asteroid belt's orbital structure is reshaped, leading to markedly improved simulation outcomes., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MRNAS Letters