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Formation of free-floating planetary mass objects via circumstellar disk encounters
Zhihao Fu1,2, Hongping Deng2, Douglas N C Lin3,4
1Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Science Advances
|February 26, 2025
Summary
Free-floating planetary-mass objects (PMOs) form uniquely from fragmenting circumstellar disks in star clusters. This process explains their abundance and multiplicity, distinguishing them from stars and planets.
Area of Science:
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Planetary Science
Background:
- The origin of free-floating planetary-mass objects (PMOs) in young star clusters is poorly understood.
- Existing theories of cloud collapse or planet ejection do not fully explain their observed abundance and multiplicity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a novel formation mechanism for free-floating PMOs.
- To explain the presence of multiple PMOs in star clusters.
Main Methods:
- Hydrodynamic simulations of encountering circumstellar disks in dense star clusters.
Main Results:
- Identified fragmentation of tidal bridges between circumstellar disks as a unique PMO formation channel.
- Demonstrated that this mechanism can produce metal-poor PMOs with disks, particularly in dense environments like the Trapezium cluster.
- Showed that mutual gravitational capture of neighboring PMOs naturally leads to the formation of free-floating multiple PMOs.
Conclusions:
- Free-floating PMOs likely form through disk fragmentation, a distinct pathway from star and planet formation.
- This mechanism accounts for the abundance and multiplicity of observed PMOs.
- PMOs may represent a unique population of celestial objects, fundamentally different from stars and planets.
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