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Taishi Nakamoto

Publications and source records attributed to Taishi Nakamoto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Formation of Isotopically Heterogeneous Molecular Cloud Cores in Filamentary Molecular Clouds

Meteorite analysis shows that the older solids of the solar system, such as the calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), have isotopic inhomogeneity. This indicates that the isotopic inhomogeneity could originate from parental molecular clouds. We investigate the evolution of the isotopically heterogeneous molecular cloud cores formed from filament fragmentation using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. We show that the effect of the variation of isotopic ratio along the minor axes of the filament is smaller than that along the longitudinal axis of the filament due to the filament geometry. Our results also suggest that isotopic inhomogeneities remain in the resulting cores, although the amounts of initial inhomogeneities are reduced by a factor of 100 from those over the initial filament length of 1 pc. This fraction corresponds to 1-10% of the maximum isotopic ratio that the core can acquire from the filament in each model. The origin of the isotopic inhomogeneity of the shells could be attributed to the initial difference in the center-of-mass of shells caused by the turbulent velocity field. Our model indicates that the isotopic inhomogeneity could survive even in the circumstellar disk.

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arXiv2023

Oxygen Isotope Exchange Between Molten Silicate Spherules and Ambient Water Vapor with Nonzero Relative Velocity: Implication for Chondrule Formation Environment

Oxygen isotope compositions of chondrules reflect the environment of chondrule formation and its spatial and temporal variations. Here, we present a theoretical model of oxygen isotope exchange reaction between molten silicate spherules and ambient water vapor with finite relative velocity. We found a new phenomenon, that is, mass-dependent fractionation caused by isotope exchange with ambient vapor moving with nonzero relative velocity. We also discussed the plausible condition for chondrule formation from the point of view of oxygen isotope compositions. Our findings indicate that the relative velocity between chondrules and ambient vapor would be lower than several 100 m/s when chondrules crystallized.

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arXiv2023

Size Dependence of the Bouncing Barrier in Protoplanetary Dust Growth

Understanding the collisional behavior of dust aggregates is essential in the context of planet formation. It is known that low-velocity collisions of dust aggregates result in bouncing rather than sticking when the filling factor of colliding dust aggregates is higher than a threshold value. However, a large discrepancy between numerical and experimental results on the threshold filling factor was reported so far. In this study, we perform numerical simulations using soft-sphere discrete element methods and demonstrate that the sticking probability decreases with increasing aggregates radius. Our results suggest that the large discrepancy in the threshold filling factor may reflect the difference in the size of dust aggregates in earlier numerical simulations and laboratory experiments.

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arXiv2022

Fine-grained rim formation via kinetic dust aggregation in shock waves around evaporating icy planetesimals

Fine-grained rims (FGRs) are frequently found around chondrules in primitive chondrites. The remarkable feature of FGRs is their submicron-sized and non-porous nature. The typical thickness of FGRs around chondrules is 10--100 $μ$m. Recently, a novel idea was proposed for the origin of FGRs: high-speed collisions between chondrules and fine dust grains called the kinetic dust aggregation process. Experimental studies revealed that (sub)micron-sized ceramic particles can stick to a ceramic substrate in a vacuum when the impact velocity is approximately in the range of 0.1--1 km/s. In this study, we examine the possibility of FGR formation via kinetic dust aggregation in chondrule-forming shock waves. When shock waves are created by undifferentiated icy planetesimals, fine dust grains would be released from the planetary surface due to evaporation of icy planetesimals. We consider the dynamics of chondrules behind the shock front and calculate the growth of FGRs via kinetic dust aggregation based on simple one-dimensional calculations. We found that non-porous FGRs with the thickness of 10--100 $μ$m would be formed in shock waves around evaporating icy planetesimals.

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arXiv2021

Dependence of the initial internal structure of chondrule rim on dust size distribution

Coarse objects in chondrites such as chondrules and CAIs are mostly coated with fine-grained rims (FGRs). FGRs can be formed on the surface of free floating chondrules in a turbulent nebula, where dust aggregation also occurs. A former study has reported that the morphology of the dust populations accreting onto chondrules affects the initial structures of FGRs. It was revealed that, if monomer grains accrete onto chondrules, the smaller grains tend to accumulate near the surface of chondrules, and FGRs exhibit grain size coarsening from the bottom to the top. However, the study did not consider the effect of temporal growth of dust aggregates on FGRs formation. In this study, we calculate the aggregation of polydisperse monomer grains and their accretion onto chondrules. The following two different stages of dust aggregation can be identified: the monomer-aggregation stage and the BCCA-like stage. In the monomer-aggregation stage, monomer grains are incorporated into aggregates when the average aggregate size reaches the size of the monomer. In the BCCA-like stage, aggregates evolve fractally in a fashion similar to that of single size monomer grains. Based on the results of the previous study, we obtain the requisite conditions for chondrules to acquire monomer-accreting FGRs with grain size coarsening observed in some chondrites. In the case of similar size distribution as that of Inter Stellar Medium (ISM), the maximum grain size of $>$ $1$ $μ$m is widely ($α$ $<$ $10^{-3}$) required for monomer accretion, while if turbulent intensity in a nebula is extremely weak ($α$ $<$ $10^{-5}$), a maximum grain size $\sim$ $10$ $μ$m is required. The monomer size distributions having larger mass fraction in the large grains compared to ISM might be necessary for the effective grain size coarsening.

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arXiv2019

Geometrical structure and thermal conductivity of dust aggregates formed via ballistic cluster-cluster aggregation

We herein report a theoretical study of the geometrical structure of porous dust aggregates formed via ballistic cluster-cluster aggregation (BCCA). We calculated the gyration radius $R_{\rm gyr}$ and the graph-based geodesic radius $R_{\rm geo}$ as a function of the number of constituent particles $N$. We found that $R_{\rm gyr} / r_{0} \sim N^{0.531 \pm 0.011}$ and $R_{\rm geo} / r_{0} \sim N^{0.710 \pm 0.013}$, where $r_{0}$ is the radius of constituent particles. Furthermore, we defined two constants that characterize the geometrical structure of fractal aggregates: $D_{\rm f}$ and $α$. The definition of $D_{\rm f}$ and $α$ are $N \sim {( R_{\rm gyr} / r_{0} )}^{D_{\rm f}}$ and ${R_{\rm geo}} / {r_{0}} \sim {\left( {R_{\rm gyr}} / {r_{0}} \right)}^α$, respectively. Our study revealed that $D_{\rm f} \simeq 1.88$ and $α\simeq 1.34$ for the clusters of the BCCA. In addition, we also studied the filling factor dependence of thermal conductivity of statically compressed fractal aggregates. From this study, we reveal that the thermal conductivity of statically compressed aggregates $k$ is given by $k \sim 2 k_{\rm mat} {( r_{\rm c} / r_{0} )} ϕ^{(1 + α) / (3 - D_{\rm f})}$, where $k_{\rm mat}$ is the material thermal conductivity, $r_{\rm c}$ is the contact radius of constituent particles, and $ϕ$ is the filling factor of dust aggregates.

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arXiv2019

Rocky Planetesimal Formation Aided by Organics

The poor stickiness of silicate dust grains is a major obstacle to the formation of rocky planetesimals. In this study, we examine the possibility that silicate grains with an organic mantle, which we call Organic-Mantled Grains (OMGs), form planetesimals through direct coagulation. Organic mantles are commonly found in interplanetary dust particles, and laboratory experiments show that they are softer than silicates, in particular in warm environments. This, combined with the theory of particle adhesion, implies that OMGs are stickier than bare silicate grains. Because organic mantles can survive up to 400 K, silicate grains inside the water snow line in protoplanetary disks can in principle hold such mantles. We construct a simple grain adhesion model to estimate the threshold collision velocity below which aggregates of OMGs can grow. The model shows that aggregates of 0.1 \micron-sized OMGs can overcome the fragmentation barrier in protoplanetary disks if the mantles are as thick as those in interplanetary dust particles and if the temperature is above $\sim$ 200 K. We use this adhesion model to simulate the global evolution of OMG aggregates in the inner part of a protoplanetary disk, demonstrating that OMG aggregates can indeed grow into planetesimals under favorable conditions. Because organic matter is unstable at excessively high temperatures, rocky planetesimal formation by the direct sticking of OMGs is expected to occur in a disk annulus corresponding to the temperature range $ \sim$ 200--400 K. The organic-rich planetesimals may grow into carbon-poor rocky planetesimals by accreting a large amount of carbon-poor chondrules.

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arXiv2019

Compound chondrule formation in optically thin shock waves

Shock-wave heating within the solar nebula is one of the leading candidates for the source of chondrule-forming events. Here, we examine the possibility of compound chondrule formation via optically thin shock waves. Several features of compound chondrules indicate that compound chondrules are formed via the collisions of supercooled precursors. We evaluate whether compound chondrules can be formed via the collision of supercooled chondrule precursors in the framework of the shock-wave heating model by using semi-analytical methods and discuss whether most of the crystallized chondrules can avoid destruction upon collision in the post-shock region. We find that chondrule precursors immediately turn into supercooled droplets when the shock waves are optically thin and they can maintain supercooling until the condensation of evaporated fine dust grains. Owing to the large viscosity of supercooled melts, supercooled chondrule precursors can survive high-speed collisions on the order of $1\ {\rm km}\ {\rm s}^{-1}$ when the temperature is below $\sim 1400\ {\rm K}$. From the perspective of the survivability of crystallized chondrules, shock waves with a spatial scale of $\sim 10^{4}\ {\rm km}$ may be potent candidates for the chondrule formation mechanism. Based on our results from one-dimensional calculations, a fraction of compound chondrules can be reproduced when the chondrule-to-gas mass ratio in the pre-shock region is $\sim 2 \times 10^{-3}$, which is approximately half of the solar metallicity.

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arXiv2019

Thermal conductivity and coordination number of compressed dust aggregates

Understanding the heat transfer mechanism within dust aggregates is of great importance for many subjects in planetary science. We calculated the coordination number and the thermal conductivity through the solid network of compressed dust aggregates. We found a simple relationship between the coordination number and the filling factor and revealed that the thermal conductivity through the solid network of aggregates is represented by a power-law function of the filling factor and the coordination number.

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arXiv2018

Lowest Earth's atmosphere layers probed during a lunar eclipse

We report the results of detailed investigation of the Earth's transmission spectra during the lunar eclipse on UT 2011 December 10. The spectra were taken by using the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) mounted on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope with unprecedented resolutions both in time and wavelength (300 s exposure time in umbra and 160,000 spectral resolution, respectively). In our penumbra and umbra data, we detected the individual absorption lines of O2 and H2O in transmission spectra and found that it became deeper as the eclipse became deeper. It indicates that the sunlight reaching the Moon passed through lower layers in the Earth's atmosphere with time because we monitored a given point on the Moon during the full eclipse duration. From the comparison between the observed and theoretically constructed transmission spectra, the lowest altitude at which the sunlight actually passed through the atmosphere is estimated to be about 10 km from the ground, which suggests the existence of sunlight blocking clouds below that altitude. Our result would be a test case for future investigations of atmospheric structure of Earth-like exoplanets via transmission spectroscopy including the refraction effect of the planetary atmosphere.

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arXiv2018

Collisional Growth of Icy Dust Aggregates in Disk Formation Stage: Difficulties for Planetesimal Formation via Direct Collisional Growth outside the Snowline

Highly porous dust aggregates can break through the radial drift barrier, but previous studies assumed disks in their later stage, where the disks have a very small mass and low temperature. In contrast, dust coagulation should begin in the very early stage such as the disk formation stage because the growth timescale of dust is shorter than the disk formation timescale if there is no process to suppress the collisional growth of dust. We investigate the possibility of planetesimal formation via direct collisional growth in the very early stage of a protoplanetary disk. We show that, in the very early stage of protoplanetary disks, icy dust aggregates suffer radial drift and deplete without forming planetesimal-sized objects. This is because as the disk temperature easily increases by the viscous heating in the disk formation stage, the area where the dust can break through the radial drift barrier is restricted only to the inside the snowline. This suggests that in the disk formation stage, icy planetesimal formation via direct collisional growth of dust is difficult.

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arXiv2017

Thermal conductivity of porous aggregates

$\mathit{Context.}$ The thermal conductivity of highly porous dust aggregates is a key parameter for many subjects in planetary science; however, it is not yet fully understood. $\mathit{Aims.}$ In this study, we investigate the thermal conductivity of fluffy dust aggregates with filling factors of less than $10^{-1}$. $\mathit{Methods.}$ We determine the temperature structure and heat flux of the porous dust aggregates calculated by $N$-body simulations of static compression in the periodic boundary condition. $\mathit{Results.}$ We derive an empirical formula for the thermal conductivity through the solid network $k_{\rm sol}$ as a function of the filling factor of dust aggregates $ϕ$. The results reveal that $k_{\rm sol}$ is approximately proportional to $ϕ^{2}$, and the thermal conductivity through the solid network is significantly lower than previously assumed. In light of these findings, we must reconsider the thermal histories of small planetary bodies.

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arXiv2016

Rocky Planetesimal Formation via Fluffy Aggregates of Nanograins

Several pieces of evidence suggest that silicate grains in primitive meteorites are not interstellar grains but condensates formed in the early solar system. Moreover, the size distribution of matrix grains in chondrites implies that these condensates might be formed as nanometer-sized grains. Therefore, we propose a novel scenario for rocky planetesimal formation in which nanometer-sized silicate grains are produced by evaporation and recondensation events in early solar nebula, and rocky planetesimals are formed via aggregation of these nanograins. We reveal that silicate nanograins can grow into rocky planetesimals via direct aggregation without catastrophic fragmentation and serious radial drift, and our results provide a suitable condition for protoplanet formation in our solar system.

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arXiv2015

Theoretical Emission Spectra of Atmospheres of Hot Rocky Super-Earths

Motivated by recent detection of transiting high-density super-Earths, we explore the detectability of hot rocky super-Earths orbiting very close to their host stars. In the environment hot enough for their rocky surfaces to be molten, they would have the atmosphere composed of gas species from the magma oceans. In this study, we investigate the radiative properties of the atmosphere that is in the gas/melt equilibrium with the underlying magma ocean. Our equilibrium calculations yield Na, K, Fe, Si, SiO, O, and O$_2$ as the major atmospheric species. We compile the radiative-absorption line data of those species available in literature, and calculate their absorption opacities in the wavelength region of 0.1--100~$\mathrm{μm}$. Using them, we integrate the thermal structure of the atmosphere. Then, we find that thermal inversion occurs in the atmosphere because of the UV absorption by SiO. In addition, we calculate the ratio of the planetary to stellar emission fluxes during secondary eclipse, and find prominent emission features induced by SiO at 4~$\mathrm{μm}$ detectable by Spitzer, and those at 10 and 100~$\mathrm{μm}$ detectable by near-future space telescopes.

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arXiv2014

Mass-Loss Evolution of Close-In Exoplanets: Evaporation of Hot Jupiters and the Effect on Population

During their evolution, short-period exoplanets may lose envelope mass through atmospheric escape owing to intense XUV (X-ray and extreme ultraviolet) radiation from their host stars. Roche-lobe overflow induced by orbital evolution or intense atmospheric escape can also contribute to mass loss. To study the effects of mass loss on inner planet populations, we calculate the evolution of hot Jupiters considering mass loss of their envelopes and thermal contraction. Mass loss is assumed to occur through XUV-driven atmospheric escape and the following Roche-lobe overflow. The runaway effect of mass loss results in a dichotomy of populations: hot Jupiters that retain their envelopes and super Earths whose envelopes are completely lost. Evolution primarily depends on the core masses of planets and only slightly on migration history. In hot Jupiters with small cores (~10 Earth masses), runaway atmospheric escape followed by Roche-lobe overflow may create sub-Jupiter deserts, as observed in both mass and radius distributions of planetary populations. Comparing our results with formation scenarios and observed exoplanets populations, we propose that populations of closely orbiting exoplanets are formed by capturing of planets at/inside the inner edges of protoplanetary disks and subsequent evaporation of sub-Jupiters.

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arXiv2013

Photoevaporation of Circumstellar Disks Revisited: The Dust-Free Case

Photoevaporation by stellar ionizing radiation is believed to play an important role in the dispersal of disks around young stars. The mass loss model for dust-free disks developed by Hollenbach et al. is currently regarded as a conventional one and has been used in a wide variety of studies. However, the rate in this model was derived by the crude so-called 1+1D approximation of ionizing radiation transfer, which assumes that diffuse radiation propagates in a direction vertical to the disk. In this study, we revisit the photoevaporation of dust-free disks by solving the 2D axisymmetric radiative transfer for steady-state disks. Unlike that solved by the conventional model, we determine that direct stellar radiation is more important than the diffuse field at the disk surface. The radial density distribution at the ionization boundary is represented by the single power-law with an index -3/2 in contrast to the conventional double power-law. For this distribution, the photoevaporation rate from the entire disk can be written as a function of the ionizing photon emissivity, Phi_EUV, from the central star and the disk outer radius, r_d, as follows: Mdot_PE = 5.4 x 10^-5 x (Phi_EUV/10^49 sec^-1)^1/2 x (r_d/1000 AU)^1/2 Msun/yr. This new rate depends on the outer disk radius rather than on the gravitational radius as in the conventional model, caused by the enhanced contribution to the mass loss from the outer disk annuli. In addition, we discuss its applications to present-day as well as primordial star formation.

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arXiv2012

Effect of Photodesorption on Snow Line at the Surface of Optically Thick Circumstellar Disks around Herbig Ae/Be Stars

We investigate the effect of photodesorption on the snow line position at the surface of a protoplanetary disk around a Herbig Ae/Be star, motivated by the detection of water ice particles at the surface of the disk around HD142527 by Honda et al. For this aim, we obtain the density and temperature structure in the disk with a 1+1D radiative transfer and determine the distribution of water ice particles in the disk by the balance between condensation, sublimation, and photodesorption. We find that photodesorption induced by the far-ultraviolet radiation from the central star depresses the ice-condensation front toward the mid-plane and pushes the surface snow line outward significantly when the stellar effective temperature exceeds a certain critical value. This critical effective temperature depends on the stellar luminosity and mass, the water abundance in the disk, and the yield of photodesorption. We present an approximate analytic formula for the critical temperature. We separate Herbig Ae/Be stars into two groups on the HR diagram according to the critical temperature; one is the disks where photodesorption is effective and from which we may not find ice particles at the surface, and the other is the disks where photodesorption is not effective. We estimate the snow line position at the surface of the disk around HD142527 to be 100--300 AU which is consistent with the water ice detection at >140 AU in the disk. All results depend on the dust grain size by a complex way and this point requires more work in future.

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