Chondrule formation indicates protracted growth of giant planet cores

Abstract

Chondrules, igneous spherules found in most meteorites, formed throughout the protoplanetary disk, but their formation is largely unexplored beyond the water snowline, in the outer disk. Combining simulations of giant planet core accretion with simulations of planetesimal collisions, we find that impact jetting can produce chondrules to distances of ∼15 AU from the Sun. In our simulations, chondrule formation ceases by the time the first giant planet core exceeds isolation mass, ∼10 Earth masses. The time it takes to reach this mass is sensitive to the total mass of the disk, and how the mass is distributed within planetesimals and small pebbles. Measured chondrule ages subsequently constrain the time of Jupiter's core formation to approximately 3–4 Myr after the first solar system solids. This protracted growth indicates the separation of non‑carbonaceous and carbonaceous material reservoirs predates the formation of Jupiter's core.