STELLAR ELEMENTAL ABUNDANCE PATTERNS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PLANET FORMATION

Abstract

The solar photosphere is depleted in refractory elements compared to most solar twins, with the degree of depletion increasing with an element's condensation temperature. Here, I show that adding 4 Earth masses of Earth-like and carbonaceous-chondrite-like material to the solar convection zone brings the Sun's composition into line with the mean value for the solar twins. The observed solar composition could have arisen if the Sun's convection zone accreted material from the solar nebula that was depleted in refractory elements due to the formation of the terrestrial planets and ejection of rocky protoplanets from the asteroid belt. Most solar analogs are missing 0-10 Earth masses of rocky material compared to the most refractory-rich stars, providing an upper limit to the mass of rocky terrestrial planets that they possess. The missing mass is correlated with stellar metallicity. This suggests that the efficiency of planetesimal formation increases with stellar metallicity. Stars with and without known giant planets show a similar distribution of abundance trends. If refractory depletion is a signature of the presence of terrestrial planets, this suggests that there is not a strong correlation between the presence of terrestrial and giant planets in the same system.