Circularization of tidal debris around white dwarfs: implications for gas production and dust variability
Uri Malamud,
Evgeni Grishin,
Marc Brouwers
Abstract:White dwarf (WD) pollution is thought to arise from the tidal disruption of planetary bodies. The initial fragment stream is extremely eccentric, while observational evidence suggest that discs are circular or nearly so. Here we propose a novel mechanism to bridge this gap and show that the fragments can rapidly circularise through dust or gas drag when they interact with a pre-existing compact disc. We assume that the tidal stream mainly consists of small cohesive fragments in the size range 10-1000 m, capabl… Show more
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