Recently revealed differences in planets around M dwarf vs. solar-type stars could arise from differences in their primordial disks , and surveys of T Tauri stars find a correlation between stellar mass and disk mass .
” Minimum ” disks have been reconstructed for the Solar System and solar-type stars and here this exercise is performed for M dwarfs using Kepler -detected planets .
Distribution of planet mass between current orbits produces a disk with total mass of \approx 0.009M _ { \odot } and a power-law profile with index \alpha = 2.2 .
Disk reconstruction from the output of a forward model of planet formation indicates that the effect of detection bias on disk profile is slight and that the observed scatter in planet masses and semi-major axes is consistent with a universal disk profile .
This nominal M dwarf disk is more centrally concentrated than those inferred around the solar-type stars observed by Kepler , and the mass surface density beyond 0.02 AU is sufficient for in situ accretion of planets as single embryos .
The mass of refractory solids within 0.5 AU is 5.6M _ { \oplus } compared to 4M _ { \oplus } for solar-type stars , in contrast with the trend with total disk mass .
The total solids beyond 0.5 AU is sufficient for the core of at least one giant planet .