Overview
- Rice University simulations indicate the gas giant formed within roughly 1.5–2 million years and opened a gap that drained inner‑disk gas and built pressure ridges.
- The resulting dust traps concentrated solids into rings, producing chondrite parent bodies millions of years after the first solids.
- The model preserves the inner–outer isotopic separation seen in meteorites, tying chemical fingerprints to disk dynamics.
- By cutting off inward flow and slowing migration, the early giant limited inner‑planet growth and helped prevent close‑in super‑Earths.
- The peer‑reviewed results appear in Science Advances and align with ALMA observations of ring‑and‑gap structures, though they remain model‑based and invite further tests.