Testing the Icy Pebble Accretion Hypothesis with Primordial Main-belt Asteroids

Abstract Large main-belt asteroids (diameter D ≳ 120 km) exhibit a surface composition gradient as a function of heliocentric distance, ranging from anhydrous bodies to those rich in hydrated and, possibly, ammoniated materials. Their primordial nature holds key clues to the evolution of the solar system. It has been suggested that volatile-rich bodies formed in the outer solar system and were implanted into the main belt. Alternatively, volatiles may have been delivered via inward-drifting icy pebbles in the protosolar disk. Here, we examine whether in situ formed rocky embryos can acquire volatiles through pebble accretion as the snow line migrated inward. With the turbulence strength of the disk, radial pebble flux, and the dimensionless stopping time of pebbles scaled with the Keplerian frequency (i.e., Stokes number (St)) as parameters, we calculate the growth of large asteroids. The results are then compared with mass and compositional constraints based on asteroid observations. We find that a moderate pebble flux (≲18 M ⊕ Myr −1 ) is required to enable volatile delivery while preventing the largest asteroids from becoming more massive than Ceres. Water accretion is feasible with St ∼ 10 −3 (∼1 mm). However, only the largest asteroids ( D ≳ 200 km) can accumulate sufficient ammonia under such conditions. For most asteroids with D ≃ 100–200 km, ammonia ice accretion requires St ∼ 10 −4 (∼100 μ m). Such small particle sizes may pose both theoretical and observational challenges. Thus, we propose that the intermediate-sized, potentially ammonia-bearing asteroids serve as a record of the solar system’s dynamic evolution.