Metal-rich accretion and thermohaline instabilities in exoplanet-host stars: Consequences on the light elements abundances

Abstract

The early evolution of planetary systems is expected to depend on various periods of disk matter accretion onto the central star, which may include the accretion of metal-rich matter after the star settles on the main sequence. When this happens, the accreted material is rapidly mixed within the surface convective zone and induces an inverse mean-molecular-weight gradient, unstable for thermohaline convection. The induced mixing, which dilutes the metal excess, may also have important consequences on the light elements abundances. We model and analyze this process, and present the results according to various possible accretion scenarios. We give a detailed discussion of the different ways of treating thermohaline mixing, as proposed by previous authors, and converge on a consistent view, including the most recent numerical simulations. We show how the observations of light elements in stars can be used as tracers of such events. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.