Distribution of Chemically-Processed Dust in a Viscously Evolving Protoplanetary Disk: Application to Crystalline Silicates in Comets

Abstract

Dust particles undergo chemical reactions in protoplanetary disks according to their environments, producing compositional diversity in planetary materials. Extraterrestrial records of irreversible reactions, such as crystallization of amorphous silicates, provide particularly strong constraints on the early evolution of the protosolar disk. In this study, we investigate such irreversible reactions and the spatiotemporal distribution of reacted dust in a viscously evolving disk using Monte Carlo particle-tracking simulations. We extend a predictive formula for the temperature at which irreversible reactions proceed efficiently ("reaction line"), originally developed for steady accretion disks, to viscously expanding disks. The spatiotemporal distribution of reacted dust is governed by the relative locations of the reaction line and the stagnation line, which separates inward and outward advection in the disk. The reaction line moves inward as the disk cools, while the stagnation line moves outward owing to the radial viscous spreading of the disk. When the reaction line lies far inside the stagnation line, the reacted dust remains inside the reaction line. On the other hand, when the reaction line lies near or beyond the stagnation line, the reacted dust located near the stagnation line or between the two lines is transported outward efficiently. It results in a radially broad distribution of reacted dust throughout the disk, including the outer regions where the temperatures remain too low for reactions. We assessed the disk conditions consistent with the crystalline silicates observed in Solar System comets and found that the protosolar disk was likely compact, moderately massive, and not strongly turbulent.