Disk Temperature Variations and Effects on the Snow Line in the Presence of Small Protoplanets

Abstract

We revisit the computation of a "snow line" in a passive protoplanetary disk during the stage of planetesimal formation. We examine how shadowing and illumination in the vicinity of a planet affects where in the disk ice can form, making use of our method for calculating radiative transfer on disk perturbations with some improvements on the model. We adopt a model for the unperturbed disk structure that is more consistent with observations and use opacities for reprocessed dust instead of interstellar medium dust. We use the improved disk model to calculate the temperature variation for a range of planet masses and distances and find that planets at the gap-opening threshold can induce temperature variations of up to +/-30%. Temperature variations this significant may have ramifications for planetary accretion rates and migration rates. We discuss in particular the effect of temperature variations near the sublimation point of water, since the formation of ice can enhance the accretion rate of disk material onto a planet. Shadowing effects can cool the disk enough that ice will form closer to the star than previously expected, effectively moving the snow line inward.

28 pages, 14 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (4)

• 2-D Radiative Transfer in Protostellar Envelopes: I. Effects of Geometry on Class I Sources
• Three-dimensional Calculations of High and Low-mass Planets Embedded in Protoplanetary Discs
• Constraints on a planetary origin for the gap in GM Aurigae's protoplanetary disc
• Radiative Transfer on Perturbations in Protoplanetary Disks

Cited by in corpus (22)

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• Growing and moving low-mass planets in non-isothermal disks
• The dependence of protoplanet migration rates on coorbital torques
• Evolutionary Tracks of Trapped, Accreting Protoplanets: the Origin of the Observed Mass-Period Relation
• Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Signatures of Planets: I. Methodology and Validation
• Type I Migration in a Non-Isothermal Protoplanetary Disk
• Time evolution of snow regions and planet traps in an evolving protoplanetary disk
• Disk Truncation and Planet Formation in gamma Cephei
• Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Signatures of Planets: II. Inclined Disks
• Constraints on the Formation of the Planet Around HD188753A
• On the Formation and Chemical Composition of Super Earths
• Planet Shadows in Protoplanetary Disks. I: Temperature Perturbations
• Dust Settling and Rapid Planetary Migration
• Ice Lines in Circumbinary Protoplanetary Disks
• Radiatively heated, protoplanetary discs with dead zones. I. Dust settling and thermal structure of discs around M stars
• A global two-layer radiative transfer model for axisymmetric, shadowed protoplanetary disks
• Time evolution of a viscous protoplanetary disk with a free geometry: toward a more self-consistent picture
• Dust Growth and Dynamics in Protoplanetary Nebulae: Implications for Opacity, Thermal Profile and Gravitational Instability
• Radiative Transfer Models of a Possible Planet in the AB Aurigae Disk
• Iceline Variations Driven by Protoplanetary Disc Gaps