Planet Formation Around Low-Mass Stars: The Moving Snow Line and Super-Earths

Abstract

We develop a semianalytic model for planet formation during the pre-main-sequence contraction phase of a low-mass star. During this evolution, the stellar magnetosphere maintains a fixed ratio between the inner disk radius and the stellar radius. As the star contracts at constant effective temperature, the "snow line," which separates regions of rocky planet formation from regions of icy planet formation, moves inward. This process enables rapid formation of icy protoplanets that collide and merge into super-Earths before the star reaches the main sequence. The masses and orbits of these super-Earths are consistent with super-Earths detected in recent microlensing experiments.