Overview
- A peer‑reviewed paper by Mutlu Yildiz published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society presents models that best fit solar data when the young Sun ingested a rocky planet about 5–10 times the mass of Earth.
- The author used the MESA stellar‑evolution code to compare accretion histories with helioseismic measurements and surface abundances and found the engulfment scenario improves agreement on the sound‑speed profile beneath the convection zone and the convection‑zone depth.
- Separate survivability simulations show a compact, iron‑rich super‑Earth could lose little mass while spiraling inward and deliver most of its core material near the base of the convection zone where the models need extra heavy elements.
- The paper links the engulfment idea to the Sun’s very low surface lithium and to prior work on inward migration of close‑in planets, offering a possible reason our Solar System lacks a super‑Earth that many other systems show.
- Authors and coverage stress this is a theoretical, not proven, result and say the next step is independent detection of the predicted fingerprints through refined helioseismic inversions or other interior composition diagnostics, a test that would move the idea from plausible to supported.