Rebuttal to “Comment on the paper “Comparison of the composition of the Tempel 1 ejecta to the dust in Comet C/Hale-Bopp 1995 O1 and YSO HD 100546” by C.M. Lisse, K.E. Kraemer, J.A. Nuth III, A. Li, and D. Joswiak"

This response is to address the comments made by Drs. J. Crovisier and D. Bockelee-Morvan concerning the spectral analysis of Lisse et al. [Lisse, C.M., Kraemer, K.E., Nuth, J.A., Li, A., Joswiak, D., 2007. Icarus 187, 69-86] of the mid-IR ISO SWS spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp 1995 O1 taken on October 6, 1996, and to support the conclusions made in Lisse et al. concerning the positive detection of PAHs in this comet. We also present some additional information determined from the Deep Impact and STARDUST missions, demonstrating the presence of PAHs in other comets, to support the plausibility of the Hale-Bopp PAH detection.     

The thermal structure and the location of the snow line in the protosolar nebula: Axisymmetric models with full 3-D radiative transfer

The precise location of the water ice condensation front (‘snow line’) in the protosolar nebula has been a debate for a long time. Its importance stems from the expected substantial jump in the abundance of solids beyond the snow line, which is conducive to planet formation, and from the higher ‘stickiness’ in collisions of ice-coated dust grains, which may help the process of coagulation of dust and the formation of planetesimals. In an optically thin nebula, the location of the snow line is easily calculated to be around 3 AU, subject to brightness variations of the young Sun. However, in its first 5-10 myr, the solar nebula was optically thick, implying a smaller snowline radius due to shielding from direct sunlight, but also a larger radius because of viscous heating. Several models have attempted to treat these opposing effects. However, until recently treatments beyond an approximate 1 + 1D radiative transfer were unfeasible. We revisit the problem with a fully self-consistent 3D treatment in an axisymmetric disk model, including a density-dependent treatment of the dust and ice sublimation. We find that the location of the snow line is very sensitive to the opacities of the dust grains and the mass accretion rate of the disk. We show that previous approximate treatments are quite efficient at determining the location of the snow line if the energy budget is locally dominated by viscous accretion. Using this result we derive an analytic estimate of the location of the snow line that compares very well with results from this and previous studies. Using solar abundances of the elements we compute the abundance of dust and ice and find that the expected jump in solid surface density at the snow line is smaller than previously assumed. We further show that in the inner few AU the refractory species are also partly evaporated, leading to a significantly smaller solid state surface density in the regions where the rocky planets were formed.     

On the propagation of topographically trapped waves

Abstract

In the context of ageostrophic theory in a homogeneous ocean, a nondimensional number is determined which corresponds to the Ursell number for long gravity waves. It is defined as Q = NL ²/h ³, where N is the amplitude of the wave travelling along the long length-scale direction, L is its length and h (which for gravity waves is the water depth) is given by h=(l ⁴ f ²/g)^1/3. where l is the short length-scale, f the Coriolis parameter and g the acceleration due to gravity. The physical meaning of Q is as follows: if Q? O(1) the free evolution of the wave is linear and weakly dispersive, if Q = O(1) nonlinear and dispersive effects balance out and finally if Q ?O(1) the evolution is nonlinear and non-dispersive. Expressions for the time scales for the development of dispersive and nonlinear effects are also determined. These results apply to topographically trapped waves, namely barotropic continental shelf and double Kelvin waves travelling along a rectilinear topographic variation.     

早期太阳星云演化历史的指示剂——不同类型陨石母体的吸积和形成过程

不同类型球粒陨石母体的形成过程,可作为早期太阳星云化学演化的指示剂,它们包含原始球粒陨石中残存的前太阳颗粒,可提供太阳系外恒星演化的信息;原始球粒陨矿物-岩石学特征,可揭示早期太阳星云的凝聚和吸积作用过程;原始球粒陨石主要组分的氧同位素组成,可为了解形成不同类型球粒陨石的初始物质和形成环境提供重要的依据;原始球粒陨石中富钙-铝包体和球粒的形成年龄,可作为早期太阳星云演化的时标;原始球粒陨石的氧化-还原作用特征,可推断不同类型球粒陨石母体在太阳星云内距日心距离等,并进一步探讨早期太阳星云的化学演化。     

The significance of meteorite density and porosity

Non-destructive, non-contaminating, and relatively simple procedures can be used to measure the bulk density, grain density, and porosity of meteorites. Most stony meteorites show a relatively narrow range of densities, but differences within this range can be useful indicators of the abundance and oxidation state of iron and the presence or absence of volatiles. Typically, ordinary chondrites have a porosity of just under 10%, while most carbonaceous chondrites (with notable exceptions) are more than 20% porous. Such measurements provide important clues to the nature of the physical processes that formed and evolved both the meteorites themselves and their parent bodies. When compared with the densities of small solar system bodies, one can deduce the nature of asteroid and comet interiors, which in turn reflect the accretional and collisional environment of the early solar system.     

The origin of non-porphyritic pyroxene chondrules in UOCs: Liquid solar nebula condensates?

A total of 56 non-porphyritic pyroxene and pyroxene/olivine micro-objects from different unequilibrated ordinary chondrites were selected for detailed studies to test the existing formation models. Our studies imply that the non-porphyritic objects represent quickly quenched liquids with each object reflecting a very complex and unique evolutionary history. Bulk major element analyses, obtained with EMPA and ASEM, as well as bulk lithophile trace element analyses, determined by LA-ICP-MS, resulted in unfractionated (solar-like) ratios of CaO/Al₂O₃, Yb/Ce as well as Sc/Yb in many of the studied objects and mostly unfractionated refractory lithophile trace element (RLTE) abundance patterns. These features support an origin by direct condensation from a gas of solar nebula composition. Full equilibrium condensation calculations show that it is theoretically possible that pyroxene-dominated non-porphyritic chondrules with flat REE patterns could have been formed as droplet liquid condensates directly from a nebular gas strongly depleted in olivine. Thus, it is possible to have enstatite as the stable liquidus phase in a 800 × Cl dust-enriched nebular gas at a ptot of 10⁻³ atm, if about 72% of the original Mg is removed (as forsterite?) from the system. Condensation of liquids from vapor (primary liquid condensation) could be considered as a possible formation process of the pyroxene-dominated non-porphyritic objects. This process can produce a large spectrum of chemical compositions, which always have unfractionated RLTE abundances. Late stage and subsolidus metasomatic events appear to have furthered the compositional diversity of chondrules and related objects by addition of moderately volatile and volatile elements to these objects by exchange reactions with the chondritic reservoir (e.g., V, Cr, Mn, FeO as well as K and Na). The strong fractionation displayed by the volatile lithophile elements could be indicative of a variable efficiency of metasomatic processes occurring during and/or after chondrule formation. Histories of individual objects differ in detail from each other and clearly indicate individual formation and subsequent processing.     

Particle stirring in turbulent gas disks: Including orbital oscillations

We describe the diffusion and random velocities of solid particles due to stochastic forcing by turbulent gas. We include the orbital dynamics of Keplerian disks, both in-plane epicycles and vertical oscillations. We obtain a new result for the diffusion of solids. The Schmidt number (ratio of gas to particle diffusivity) is Sc≈1+(Ωt_stop)², in terms of the particle stopping time t_stop and the orbital frequency Ω. The standard result, Sc=1+t_stop/t_eddy, in terms of the eddy turnover time, t_eddy, is shown to be incorrect. The main difference is that Sc rises quadratically, not linearly, with stopping time. Consequently, particles larger than 10 cm in protoplanetary disks will suffer less radial diffusion and will settle closer to the midplane. Such a layer of boulders would be more prone to gravitational collapse. Our predictions of RMS speeds, vertical scale height and diffusion coefficients will help interpret numerical simulations. We confirm previous results for the vertical stirring of particles (scale heights and random velocities), and add a correction for arbitrary ratios of eddy to orbital times. The particle layer becomes thinner for t_eddy>1/Ω with the strength of turbulent diffusion held fixed. We use two analytic techniques—the Hinze–Tchen formalism and the Fokker–Planck equation with velocity diffusion—with identical results when the regimes of validity overlap. We include simple physical arguments for the scaling of our results.     

Ice lines, planetesimal composition and solid surface density in the solar nebula

To date, there is no core accretion simulation that can successfully account for the formation of Uranus or Neptune within the observed 2–3 Myr lifetimes of protoplanetary disks. Since solid accretion rate is directly proportional to the available planetesimal surface density, one way to speed up planet formation is to take a full accounting of all the planetesimal-forming solids present in the solar nebula. By combining a viscously evolving protostellar disk with a kinetic model of ice formation, which includes not just water but methane, ammonia, CO and 54 minor ices, we calculate the solid surface density of a possible giant planet-forming solar nebula as a function of heliocentric distance and time. Our results can be used to provide the starting planetesimal surface density and evolving solar nebula conditions for core accretion simulations, or to predict the composition of planetesimals as a function of radius. We find three effects that favor giant planet formation by the core accretion mechanism: (1) a decretion flow that brings mass from the inner solar nebula to the giant planet-forming region, (2) the fact that the ammonia and water ice lines should coincide, according to recent lab results from Collings et al. [Collings, M.P., Anderson, M.A., Chen, R., Dever, J.W., Viti, S., Williams, D.A., McCoustra, M.R.S., 2004. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 354, 1133–1140], and (3) the presence of a substantial amount of methane ice in the trans-saturnian region. Our results show higher solid surface densities than assumed in the core accretion models of Pollack et al. [Pollack, J.B., Hubickyj, O., Bodenheimer, P., Lissauer, J.J., Podolak, M., Greenzweig, Y., 1996. Icarus 124, 62–85] by a factor of 3–4 throughout the trans-saturnian region. We also discuss the location of ice lines and their movement through the solar nebula, and provide new constraints on the possible initial disk configurations from gravitational stability arguments.     

AFM study on surface nanotopography of matrix olivines in Allende carbonaceous chondrite

By means of nanoscale surface observation, we have proposed a new approach for investigating fine crystals of cosmic materials to reveal their origin and growth conditions. Several different morphologies of polyhedral fine olivines with faceted faces have been found in Allende carbonaceous chondrite (4.5 byr in geochronological age). In the present work, molecular level topography of the faceted matrix olivine by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has successfully been performed. The matrix olivine found to have preserved growth step pattern on its surface even though quite long time has passed since they formed in the early Solar System. The surface pattern suggests that the faceted matrix olivine could have been condensed from the gas phase, and possibly that these olivine crystals had continued to grow under a rapid cooling condition (0.1-1 K s⁻¹). The estimated cooling rate agrees well with predictions based on hypothetical rapid heating and cooling events such as shock wave heating.     

Accretion of Jupiter’s atmosphere from a supernova-contaminated molecular cloud

If Jupiter and the Sun both formed directly from the same well-mixed proto-solar nebula, then their atmospheric compositions should be similar. However, direct sampling of Jupiter’s troposphere indicates that it is enriched in elements such as C, N, S, Ar, Kr, and Xe by 2-6× relative to the Sun (Wong, M.H., Lunine, J.I., Atreya, S.K., Johnson, T., Mahaffy, P.R., Owen, T.C., Encrenaz, T. [2008]. 219-246). Most existing models to explain this enrichment require an extremely cold proto-solar nebula which allows these heavy elements to condense, and cannot easily explain the observed variations between these species. We find that Jupiter’s atmospheric composition may be explained if the Solar System’s disk heterogeneously accretes small amounts of enriched material such as supernova ejecta from the interstellar medium during Jupiter’s formation. Our results are similar to, but substantially larger than, isotopic anomalies in terrestrial material that indicate the Solar System formed from multiple distinct reservoirs of material simultaneously with one or more nearby supernovas (Trinquier, A., Birck, J.-L., Allegre, C.J. [2007]. Astrophys. J. 655, 1179-1185). Such temporal and spatial heterogeneities could have been common at the time of the Solar System’s formation, rather than the cloud having a purely well-mixed ‘solar nebula’ composition.