Gas dynamics around a Jupiter-mass planet

Abstract

The link between the chemistry of the protoplanetary disk and the properties of the resulting planets have long been a subject of interest in the effort to understand planet formation. These connections have generally been made between mature planets and young protoplanetary disks through the carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio. In a rare number of systems, young protoplanets have been found within their natal protoplanetary disks. These systems offer a unique opportunity to directly study the delivery of gas from the protoplanetary disk to the planet. In this work we post-process 3D numerical simulations of an embedded Jupiter-mass planet in its protoplanetary disk to explore the chemical evolution of gas as it flows from the disk to the planet. The relevant dust to this chemical evolution is assumed to be small co-moving grains with a reduced dust-to-gas ratio indicative of the upper atmosphere of a protoplanetary disk. We find that as the gas enters deep into the planet’s gravitational well, it warms significantly (up to ~800 K), releasing all of the volatile content from the ice phase. This change in phase can influence our understanding of the delivery of volatile species to the atmospheres of giant planets. The primary carbon, oxygen, and sulphur carrying ices (CO_{2, H2O, and H2S) are released into the gas phase and along with the warm gas temperatures near the embedded planets lead to the production of unique species such as CS, SO, and SO2 compared to the protoplanetary disk. We compute the column densities of SO, SO2, CS, and H2CS in our model and find that their values are consistent with previous observational studies.}