Abstract
We examine the frictional heating, sublimation, and recondensation of grains free-falling into the solar nebula from a surrounding interstellar cloud. The amount of water ice sublimated varies over a wide range—from over 90% of the grain mass at 30 AU from the nebular center to less than 10% beyond 100 AU. We further conclude that essentially all of the water sublimated eventually recondenses, because the cold nebular gas beyond 10 AU is able to hold only a small fraction as vapor. The expansion of the sublimating gas from the grain surface and abundance of cold grains implies that most of the gas returns to the solid phase near nebular ambient temperatures (∼50 K). Such a process could lead to at least two populations of grains: (1) essentially unaltered interstellar grains which did not sublimate due to drag or accretion shock heating and (2) a component comprised of water ice cocondensed, after heating, with more volatile gases at nebular ambient temperatures, yielding volatile-rich amorphous phases. Component (2) may be by far the most abundant in the portion of the outer solar nebula where Triton and Pluto formed; component (1) may be much more important for comets.
Published Version
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