Electromagnetic heating of minor planets in the early solar system

Electromagnetic processes occurring in the primordial solar system are likely to have significantly affected planetary evolution. In particular, electrical coupling of the kinetic energy of a dense T-Tauri-like solar wind into the interior of the smaller planets could have been a major driver of thermal metamorphism. Accordingly a grid of asteroid models of various sizes and solar distances was constructed using dc transverse magnetic induction theory. Plausible parameterizations with no requirement for a high environmental temperature led to complete melting for Vesta (and others with sizes down to 50 km diameter and distance out to 2.8 AU thus approximately reproducing the observed distributions of S objects) with no melting for Pallas and Ceres. Fairly high temperatures were reached in the Pallas model, perhaps implying nonmelting thermal metamorphosis as a cause of its anomalous spectrum (somewhat similar to but distinct from C type). A reversal of this temperature sequence seems implausible, suggesting that the Ceres-Pallas-Vesta dichotomy is a natural outcome of the induction mechanism. Highly localized heating is expected to arise due to an instability in the temperature-controlled current distribution. Localized metamorphosis resulting from this effect may be relevant to the production and evolution of pallasites, the large presumed metal component of S object spectra, and the formation of the lunar magma ocean.     

Primordial metamorphism of asteroids via electrical induction in A T Tauri-like solar wind

Simple evolutionary models of asteroids of various sizes and solar distances have been constructed assuming unipolar electrical induction heating due to passage of the Sun through a T Tauri phase with an increased magnetic field. Typical T Tauri conditions and an elementary solar wind model were used to calculate induced currents in modlels assuming electrical conductivities appropriate for carbonaceous material. Two restrictions with opposite dependence upon radius dominate the results. The electrical insulating tendency of a cold surface favors heating of larger bodies. The current-limiting backpressure of the induced magnetic field favors heating of smaller bodies. Thus it is found that maximum heating, in some cases sufficient for melting, occurs for model asteroids at the inner edge of the belt and with (model-dependent) radii from 25 to 250 km. This effect, if operant, would have produced a primordial distribution of metamorphosed asteroids primarily occurring at small solar distance and intermediate size. The observational evidence for such a distribution is unclear because the primordial distribution has likely been considerably modified by collisions, particularly at smaller sizes. There does seem to be some consistency with the model in the distribution of the largest asteroids, though data are sparse. In particular, this model seems relevant to the well-known dichotomy between Ceres and Vesta.Paper dedicated to Professor Hannes Alfvén on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 30 May, 1978Also Dept of Planetary Sciences     

Towards the main sequence: detailed analysis of weak line and post-T Tauri stars

A detailed study was performed for a sample of low-mass pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars, previously identified as weak-line T Tauri stars, which are compared to members of the Tucanae and Horologium Associations. Aiming to verify if there is any pattern of abundances when comparing the young stars at different phases, we selected objects in the range from 1 to 100 Myr, which covers most of PMS evolution. High-resolution optical spectra were acquired at European Southern Observatory and Observatório do Pico dos Dias . The stellar fundamental parameters effective temperature and gravity were calculated by excitation and ionization equilibria of iron absorption lines. Chemical abundances were obtained via equivalent width calculations and spectral synthesis for 44 per cent of the sample, which shows metallicities within 0.5 dex solar. A classification was developed based on equivalent width of Li  i 6708 Å and Hα lines and spectral types of the studied stars. This classification allowed a separation of the sample into categories that correspond to different evolutive stages in the PMS. The position of these stars in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram was also inspected in order to estimate their ages and masses. Among the studied objects, it was verified that our sample actually contains seven weak-line T Tauri stars, three are Classical T Tauri, 12 are Fe/Ge PMS stars and 21 are post-T Tauri or young main-sequence stars. An estimation of circumstellar luminosity was obtained using a disc model to reproduce the observed spectral energy distribution. Most of the stars show low levels of circumstellar emission, corresponding to less than 30 per cent of the total emission.     

3. Solar System Formation and Early Evolution: the First 100 Million Years

The solar system, as we know it today, is about 4.5 billion years old. It is widely believed that it was essentially completed 100 million years after the formation of the Sun, which itself took less than 1 million years, although the exact chronology remains highly uncertain. For instance: which, of the giant planets or the terrestrial planets, formed first, and how? How did they acquire their mass? What was the early evolution of the “primitive solar nebula” (solar nebula for short)? What is its relation with the circumstellar disks that are ubiquitous around young low-mass stars today? Is it possible to define a “time zero” (t ₀), the epoch of the formation of the solar system? Is the solar system exceptional or common? This astronomical chapter focuses on the early stages, which determine in large part the subsequent evolution of the proto-solar system. This evolution is logarithmic, being very fast initially, then gradually slowing down. The chapter is thus divided in three parts: (1) The first million years: the stellar era. The dominant phase is the formation of the Sun in a stellar cluster, via accretion of material from a circumstellar disk, itself fed by a progressively vanishing circumstellar envelope. (2) The first 10 million years: the disk era. The dominant phase is the evolution and progressive disappearance of circumstellar disks around evolved young stars; planets will start to form at this stage. Important constraints on the solar nebula and on planet formation are drawn from the most primitive objects in the solar system, i.e., meteorites. (3) The first 100 million years: the “telluric” era. This phase is dominated by terrestrial (rocky) planet formation and differentiation, and the appearance of oceans and atmospheres.     

Conditions for magnetic interaction of asteroids with the solar wind

Conditions are presented for maintenance of asteroid magnetospheres by dipole moments and for propagation of whistler mode noise in the solar wind at asteroid distances. Surface field intensities less than one thousandth that of the Earth are found adequate for supporting magnetospheres in the quiet solar wind surrounding the larger asteroids. Magnetospheric diameters are likely to be small, however, and difficult to identify without targeted, close-approach flybys. Under most ordinary conditions, whistler noise generated in an asteroidal shock or by other interaction with the solar wind will not propagate back upstream toward the sun, but may form a detectable wake downstream. Pure standing whistler wavefronts could be a unique asteroidal phenomenon.     

On the asteroidal conductivities as inferred from meteorites

Solar wind interactions with planetary bodies without intrinsic magnetic fields depend to a large extent on the electrical conductivities of the objects in question. If the combined (i.e., ionospheric and interior) electrical conductivities are large, as in the case of Venus, the solar wind interaction is strong due to the generation of a large electrical current flow. It is suggested here that a similar interaction may occur at some asteroids, if their interior conductivity can be approximated by the conductivities of carbonaceous or iron-bearing meteorites. This interaction, in turn, can be used as a tool for remote sensing of the asteroidal interior properties in a spacecraft mission to asteroids.     

Structure and evolutionary history of the solar system,III

Parts I and II of our analysis of the evolution of the solar system were devoted mainly to the mechanical processes. The present part (Part III) deals primarily with the plasma processes and the hydromagnetic aspects.Much confusion in the cosmogonic field is due to the treatment of the early phases of the evolution of a circumstellar medium by pre-hydromagnetic methods, or by erroneous application of magnetohydrodynamics. In order to reduce the speculative element as far as possible the present analysis tries to connect the cosmogonic processes as directly as possible to laboratory plasma physics and to space phenomena actually observed today (Section 10).Models of the Laplacian type have been made obsolete by magnetohydrodynamics. Furthermore they are in conflict with observations. A new model is suggested (Section 11).A plasma surrounding a rotating central body may attain a state of partial corotation which is determined by the balance between gravitation and the centrifugal force acting on a plasma in a dipole field. Condensation from a partially corotating plasma results in grains orbiting in ellipses withe=1/3 and finally accreting to bodies at 2/3 of the central distance of the point of condensation (Section 12).An application of the theory to the Saturnian rings and to the asteroidal belt shows that the falldown ratio 2/3 (derived from the geometry of a dipole field) is essential for the understanding of their structure. The structure of the groups of planets and satellites is also discussed but only in a preliminary way. The behavior of volatile substances is a major problem which still awaits an appropriate treatment (Section 13).     

Mass Loss and Circumstellar Dust Shells at T Tauri Stars

The mass loss of T Tauri stars leads to the production of dust in circumstellar space. The total amount of lost mass (and therefore of produced dust) is observed to be positiv correlated with the intensity of the H and Call emission lines of the objects. This fact is used in the present paper to explain quantitatively another correlation, namely the observation, that the interstellar extinction which is found by star counts in the wider surroundings of a T Tauri star is roughly proportional to the intensity of its Hα emission. By this, the outflow of circumstellar matter into the interstellar space seems to be observable directly.     

太阳风电子动力学不稳定性

电子是太阳风粒子中最为重要的组分之一,它可以通过多种机制对太阳风产生影响.太阳风中的电子通常具有温度各向异性和束流两种非热平衡分布特征,这些偏离热平衡分布的特征可以通过波粒相互作用激发电子不稳定性和等离子体波动,激发的等离子体波动又可以通过波粒相互作用调制太阳风粒子的分布,从而加热太阳风中的背景粒子.因此电子动力学不稳定性在太阳风的演化过程中扮演了极为重要的角色.详细介绍了太阳风中常见的电子动力学不稳定性,并基于等离子体动力论,详细介绍太阳风传播过程中所出现的各种不稳定性,尤其是在近日球层和太阳大气区域所出现的电子声热流不稳定性以及低混杂热流不稳定性,并分析其波粒相互作用机制,以便更加深入地研究太阳风传播过程中的电子分布函数演化.     

Temperature distribution in the solar nebula at successive stages of its evolution

We have constructed a model of the solar nebula that allows for the temperature and pressure distributions at various stages of its evolution to be calculated. The mass flux from the accretion envelope to the disk and from the disk to the Sun, the turbulent viscosity parameter α, the opacity of the disk material, and the initial angular momentum of the protosun are the input model parameters that are varied. We also take into account the changes in the luminosity and radius of the young Sun. The input model parameters are based mostly on data obtained from observations of young solar-type stars with disks. To correct the input parameters, we use the mass and chemical composition of Jupiter, as well as models of its internal structure and formation that allow constraints to be imposed on the temperature and surface density of the protoplanetary disk in Jupiter’s formation zone. Given the derived constraints on the input parameters, we have calculated models of the solar nebula at successive stages of its evolution: the formation inside the accretion envelope, the evolution around the young Sun going through the T Tauri stage, and the formation and compaction of a thin dust layer (subdisk) in the disk midplane. We have found the following evolutionary trend: an increase in the temperature of the disk at the stage of its formation, cooling at the T Tauri stage, and the subsequent internal heating of the dust subdisk by turbulence dissipation that causes a temperature rise in the formation zone of the terrestrial planets at the high subdisk density and the opacity in this zone. We have obtained the probable ranges of temperatures in the disk midplane, i.e., the temperatures of the protoplanetary material in the formation region of the terrestrial planets at the initial stage of their formation.     

Theory of bipolar outflows from high-mass young stellar objects

There is a growing number of observational indicators for the presence of bipolar outflows in massive, young stellar objects that are still accreting mass as part of their formation process. In particular, there is evidence that the outflows from these objects can attain higher velocities and kinetic luminosities than their lower-mass counterparts. Furthermore, the higher-mass objects appear to smoothly continue the correlation found in T Tauri stars between outflow and accretion signatures, and in several cases there are direct clues to the existence of a circumstellar disk from optical and infrared imaging and spectroscopy as well as from millimeter-wavelength interferometry. These results suggest that the disk-outflow connection found in low-mass pre-main-sequence stars extends to more massive objects, and that a similar physical mechanism may drive the outflows in both cases. We examine the observational basis for this hypothesis and consider how the commonly invoked centrifugally driven wind models of bipolar outflows in low-mass stars would be affected by the various physical processes (such as photoionization, photoevaporation, radiation pressure, and stellar wind ram pressure) that operate in higher-mass stars. We then list some of the interesting questions that one could hope to address as this young field of research continues to develop.     

X-ray Activity and Accretion in Young Stellar Objects

I discuss recent observational results on the X-ray properties of young stellar objects, based mostly on Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. The sensitive X-ray data on large, well characterized samples of T Tauri stars (and a number of protostars) allow to study in detail the dependence of magnetic activity on the bulk properties of the young objects and to draw important clues towards the origin of the X-ray emission. The absence of a relation between X-ray activity and rotation for T Tauri stars clearly suggests that their magnetic activity cannot be simply explained by the action of a scaled-up solar-like dynamo. I discuss alternative models for the generation of magnetic fields and also consider the long standing question whether the X-ray properties of the T Tauri stars are related to the presence/absence of circumstellar disks or active accretion.     

The adapted solar wind system as cause for a momentum transfer to the sun and its consequences for the orbital motions of keplerian objects

In the following paper we argue that each wind-driving star in relative motion with respect to the ambient interstellar medium experiences a force exerted on its central wind-generating body. The exact magnitude of this force depends on the actual geometry of the counterflow configuration of stellar and interstellar winds for a particular kinematic situation which is especially sensitive to whether the interstellar flow is subsonic or supersonic. It will, however, be demonstrated here that this force is of an accelerating nature, i.e., it operates like a rocket-motor, as long as the peculiar motion of the wind-driving star with respect to the ambient interstellar medium remains subsonic.Here we use a specific analytical model to describe theoretically the specific counterflow configuration for the case of the solar system in a subsonic peculiar motion with respect to the local interstellar medium assuming irrotational and incompressible flows. We can work out a quantitative number for the accelerating force governing the Sun's motion at present. The net reaction force exerted on the solar body is then mediated by the asymmetric boundary conditions to which the distant solar wind field has to adapt.Next we study the indirect action of such a force on orbiting Keplerian objects like planets, planetesimals and comets. Since this force only influences the central solar body, but not the planets themselves, the problem is different from the treatment of a constant perturbation force perturbing the Keplerian orbits. We present a perturbation analysis treating the action of a corresponding position-dependent perturbation force resulting in secular changes of the orbital elements of Keplerian objects. It is found that changes are accumulating more rapidly in time the closer to the sun the orbiting bodies are. Main axis and perihelion distances are systematically increasing. Especially pronounced are changes in the perihelion position angle of the objects. For solar wind mass losses larger than the Sun's present value by a factor of 1000 (T-Tauri phase of the Sun,) the migration periods calculated for the planet Mercury are of the same order of magnitude as that for corresponding general relativistic migration.     

Circumstellar disks and planets

We present a review of the interplay between the evolution of circumstellar disks and the formation of planets, both from the perspective of theoretical models and dedicated observations. Based on this, we identify and discuss fundamental questions concerning the formation and evolution of circumstellar disks and planets which can be addressed in the near future with optical and infrared long-baseline interferometers. Furthermore, the importance of complementary observations with long-baseline (sub)millimeter interferometers and high-sensitivity infrared observations is outlined.     

Temperature dependence of specific heat capacity and its effect on asteroid thermal models

Abstract— Asteroid thermal models have typically employed a constant value of specific heat capacity, although this parameter is a function of temperature. We examine whether incorporation of the temperature dependence of specific heat capacity is a necessary refinement and find that including it produces considerable differences in thermal history. Though the temperature effect is demonstrated in a representative calculation for a chondritic asteroid with ²⁶Al decay as a heat source, this result also has implications for asteroidal thermal models based on electromagnetic induction heating or heating by impact, as well as for thermal models of the terrestrial planets.     

Detecting protoplanets with ALMA

Theoretical investigations show that planet-disk interactions cause structures in circumstellar disks, which are usually much larger in size than the planet itself and thus more easily detectable. The specific result of planet-disk interactions depends on the evolutionary stage of the disk. Exemplary signatures of planets embedded in disks are gaps and spiral density waves in the case of young, gas-rich protoplanetary disks and characteristic asymmetric density patterns in debris disks. Numerical simulations convincingly demonstrate that high-resolution imaging performed with observational facilities which are already available or will become available in the near future will allow to trace these “fingerprints” of planets in protoplanetary and debris disks. These observations will provide a deep insight into specific phases of the formation and early evolution of planets in circumstellar disks. In this context, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) will play a crucial role by allowing to trace features in disks which are indicative for various stages of the formation and early evolution of planets in circumstellar disks.     

Geology of terrestrial planets with dynamic atmospheres

Geological exploration of the solar system shows that solid-surfaced planets and satellites are subject to endogenic processes (volcanism and tectonism) and exogenic processes (impact cratering and gradation). The present appearance of planetary suffaces is the result of the complex interplay of these processes and is the linked to the evolution of planets and their environments. Terrestrial planets that have dynamic atmospheres are Earth, Mars, and Venus. Atmospheric interaction with the surfaces of these planets, oraeolian activity, is a form of gradation. The manifestation of aeolian activity is the weathering and erosion of rocks into sediments, transportation of the weathered debris (mostly sand and dust) by the wind, and deposition of windblown material. Wind-eroded features include small-scale ventifacts (wind-sculptured rocks) and large-scale landforms such as yardangs. Wind depositional features include dunes, drifts, and mantles of windblown sediments. These and other aeolian features are observed on Earth, Mars, and Venus.     

Accumulation processes in the primitive solar nebula

Particle accumulation processes are discussed for a variety of physical environments, ranging from the collapse phase of an interstellar cloud to the different parts of the models of the primitive solar nebula constructed by Cameron and Pine. Because of turbulence in the collapsing interstellar gas, it is concluded that interstellar grains accumulate into bodies with radii of a few tens of centimeters before the outer parts of the solar nebula are formed. These bodies can descend quite rapidly through the gas toward midplane of the nebula, and accumulation to planetary size can occur in a few thousand years. Substantial modifications of these processes take place in the outer convection zone of the solar nebula, but again it is concluded that bodies in that zone can grow to planetary size in a few thousand years.From the discussion of the interstellar collapse phase it is concluded that the angular momentum of the primitive solar nebula was predominantly of random turbulent origin, and that it is plausible that the primitive solar nebula should have possessed satellite nebulae in highly elliptical orbits. It is proposed that the comets were formed in these satellite nebulae.A number of other detailed conclusions are drawn from the analysis. It is shown to be plausible that an iron-rich planet should be formed in the inner part of the outer nebular convection zone. Discussions are given of the processes of planetary gas accretion, the formation of satellites, the T Tauri solar wind, and the dissipation of excess condensed material after the nebular gases have been removed by the T Tauri solar wind. It is shown that the present radial distances of the planets (but not Bode's Law) should be predicted reasonably well by a solar nebula model intermediate between the uniform and linear cases of Cameron and Pine.     

10-µm images and spectra of T Tauri stars

T Tauri stars are young stars usually surrounded by dusty disks similar to the one from which we believe our own Solar System formed. Most T Tauri stars exhibit a broad emission or absorption band between 7.5 and 13.5µm which is attributed to silicate grains in the circumstellar environment. We imaged three spatially resolved T Tauri binaries through a set of broadband filters which include the spectral region occupied by the silicate band. Two of these objects (T Tauri and Haro 6–10) are infrared companion systems in which one component is optically much fainter but contributes strongly in the infrared. Both infrared companions exhibit a deep silicate absorption which is not present in their primaries, indicating that they suffer very strong local extinction which may be due to an edge-on circumstellar disk or to a dense shell. We also took low resolution spectra of the silicate feature of two unresolved T Tauris to look for narrow features in the silicate band which would indicate the presence of specific minerals such as olivine. We observed GK Tau, for which Cohen and Witteborn (1985) reported a narrow emission feature at 9.7µm, but do not find evidence for this feature, and conclude that it is either time-dependent or an artifact of absorption by telluric ozone.Paper presented at the Conference onPlanetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection held 7–10 December, 1992 at CalTech, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.     

Dust in the disk winds from young stars as a source of the circumstellar extinction

We consider the problem of dust grain survival in the disk winds from T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars. For our analysis, we have chosen a disk wind model in which the gas component of the wind is heated through ambipolar diffusion to a temperature of ～10⁴ K. We show that the heating of dust grains through their collisions with gas atoms is inefficient compared to their heating by stellar radiation and, hence, the grains survive even in the hot wind component. As a result, the disk wind can be opaque to the ultraviolet and optical stellar radiation and is capable of absorbing an appreciable fraction of it. Calculations show that the fraction of the wind-absorbed radiation for T Tauri stars can be from 20 to 40% of the total stellar luminosity at an accretion rate ? _a = 10^?8-10^?6 M _⊙yr^?1. This means that the disk winds from T Tauri stars can play the same role as the puffed-up inner rim in current accretion disk models. In Herbig Ae stars, the inner layers of the disk wind (r ≤ 0.5 AU) are dust-free, since the dust in this region sublimates under the effect of stellar radiation. Therefore, the fraction of the radiation absorbed by the disk wind in this case is considerably smaller and can be comparable to the effect from the puffed-up inner rim only at an accretion rate of the order of or higher than 10^?6 M _⊙yr^?1. Since the disk wind is structurally inhomogeneous, its optical depth toward the observer can be variable, which should be reflected in the photometric activity of young stars. For the same reason, moving shadows from gas and dust streams with a spiral-like shape can be observed in high-angular-resolution circumstellar disk images.