Possibility of Concentration of Non-volatile Species near the Surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Abstract

The cometary materials are thought to be the reservoir of primitive materials in the Solar System. The recent detection of glycine and CH${}_3$NH${}_2$ by the ROSINA mass spectrometer in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko suggests that amino acids and their precursors may have been formed in an early evolutionary phase of the Solar System. We investigate the evolution of cometary interior considering the evaporation process of water followed by the concentration of non-volatile species. We develop a Simplified Cometary Concentration Model (SCCM) to simulate the evaporation and concentration processes on the cometary surface.We use 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as the benchmark of SCCM. We investigate the depth of the layer where non-volatile species concentrate after the numerous passages of perihelion after the formation of the Solar System. As a result, the SCCM explains the observed production rates of water and CH${}_3$NH${}_2$ at 100 comet years. SCCM results suggest that the non-volatile species would concentrate at depths between 0 and 100cm of comet surface within 10 comet years. Our results also suggest that the non-volatile species would concentrate several meters beneath the surface before it hit the early Earth. This specific mass of non-volatile species may provide unique chemical condition to the volcanic hot spring pools.

arXiv commentaccepted to A&A

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Identification of Ammonium Salts on Comet 67P/C-G Surface from Infrared VIRTIS/Rosetta Data Based on Laboratory Experiments. Implications and Perspectives