The GAPS programme at TNG: XLVIII. The unusual formation history of V1298 Tau

Context. Observational data from space- and ground-based campaigns have revealed that the 10-30 Ma old V1298Tau star hosts a compact and massive system of four planets. Mass estimates are available for the two outer giant planets and point to unexpectedly high densities for their young ages.Aims. We investigate the formation of these two outermost giant planets, V1298 Tau b and e, and the present dynamical state of V1298 Tau's global architecture in order to shed light on the history of this young and peculiar extrasolar system.Methods. We performed detailed N-body simulations to explore the link between the densities of V1298 Tau b and e and their migration and accretion of planetesimals within the native circumstellar disk. We combined N-body simulations and the normalized angular momentum deficit (NAMD) analysis of the architecture to characterize V1298 Tau's dynamical state and connect it to the formation history of the system. We searched for outer planetary companions to constrain V1298 Tau's planetary architecture and the extension of its primordial circumstellar disk.Results. The high densities of V1298 Tau b and e suggest they formed at quite a distance from their host star, likely beyond the CO2 snowline. The higher nominal density of V1298 Tau e suggests it formed farther out than V1298 Tau b. The current architecture of V1298 Tau is not characterized by resonant chains. Planet-planet scattering with an outer giant planet is the most likely cause for the lack of a resonant chain between V1298 Tau's planets, but currently our search for outer companions using SPHERE and Gaia observations can exclude only the presence of planets more massive than 2 MJ.Conclusions. The most plausible scenario for V1298 Tau's formation is that the system formed by convergent migration and resonant trapping of planets born in a compact and plausibly massive disk. In the wake of their migration, V1298 Tau b and e would have left a dynamically excited protoplanetary disk, naturally creating the conditions for the later breaking of the resonant chain by planet-planet scattering.