Dust Processing in Protoplanetary Discs From Infall to Dispersal: the Origin of Solar System Isotopic HeterogeneitiesOPEN ACCESS
Mark A. Hutchison, Maria Schönbächler, Lucio Mayer, Jean-David Bodénan
Chapter accepted for publication in the NCCR PlanetS Legacy Book: Benz, W. et al. (Eds), The National Center for Competence in Research, PlanetS: A Swiss-wide network expanding planetary sciences. Springer (2026)
“The nucleosynthetic heterogeneity between different asteroids and planets is well established. These isotopic variations manifest themselves at the part per millions level or larger, in isotopes that were synthesised in various stellar environments. To escape homogenisation, some of these isotopic signatures must have been preserved in dust, which ended up being heterogeneously distributed in the solar protoplanetary disc. The origin of the nucleosynthetic heterogeneity is still poorly constrained, potentially reflecting inherited isotope variations from the Sun’s parental molecular cloud and/or processing and redistribution during the subsequent protoplanetary disc phase with thermal processing and size sorting as major processes. This chapter aims to provide a broad review of the dynamical, collisional, and thermal processes in protoplanetary discs — from initial infall to gas dispersal — that may have influenced the distribution and survival of the anomalous carrier phases, which finally accreted into asteroids and planets. While several of these mechanisms have been considered in past studies, they are often examined in isolation, which impedes the assessment of how their effects may be altered or amplified by additional disc processes. Size sorting in particular has received little attention, and here we highlight that this process likely occurred in the disc and can induce nucleosynthetic heterogeneity. By placing previous studies within the context of a comprehensive overview, we aim to clarify the broader physical framework in which anomalous carrier transport occurs and identify previously underexplored mechanisms that may have contributed to the final isotopic structure of the Solar System we see today. “
