Planetary Engulfment as a Trigger for White Dwarf Pollution

Petrovich, Cristóbal; Muñoz, Diego J.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/834/2/116

Cited by 110 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Such material was suggested to originate from planetary bodies which are perturbed by some mechanism (Debes & Sigurdsson 2002;Bonsor et al 2011 Payne et al 2016;Caiazzo & Heyl 2017;Payne et al 2017;Petrovich & Muñoz 2017;Stephan et al 2017;Smallwood et al 2018) to highly eccentric orbits with proximity to the WD, and are subsequently tidally disrupted to form a circumstellar disc of planetary debris.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs – II. Debris disc structure and ejected interstellar asteroids

Malamud

Perets

2020

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We make use of a new hybrid method to simulate the long-term, multiple-orbit disc formation through tidal disruptions of rocky bodies by white dwarfs, at high-resolution and realistic semi-major axis. We perform the largest-yet suite of simulations for dwarf and terrestrial planets, spanning four orders of magnitude in mass, various pericentre distances and semi-major axes between 3 AU and 150 AU. This large phase space of tidal disruption conditions has not been accessible through the use of previous codes. We analyse the statistical and structural properties of the emerging debris discs, as well as the ejected unbound debris contributing to the population of interstellar asteroids. Unlike previous tidal disruption studies of small asteroids which form ring-like structures on the original orbit, we find that the tidal disruption of larger bodies usually forms dispersed structures of interlaced elliptic eccentric annuli on tighter orbits. We characterize the (typically power-law) size-distribution of the ejected interstellar bodies as well as their composition, rotation velocities and ejection velocities. We find them to be sensitive to the depth (impact parameter) of the tidal disruption. Finally, we briefly discuss possible implications of our results in explaining the peculiar variability of Tabby's star, the origin of the transit events of ZTF J0139+5245 and the formation of a planetary core around SDSS J1228+1040.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs – II. Debris disc structure and ejected interstellar asteroids

Malamud

Perets

2020

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Hence, these papers have presented another mechanism (like Bonsor & Veras 2015) that does not necessarily require a planet in order to pollute the white dwarf in binary systems. Petrovich & Muñoz (2017) considered how an asteroid in a belt could remain stable to Lidov-Kozai perturbations until the white dwarf phase, before being thrust towards the white dwarf by such perturbations through the binary companion. They demonstrated that a planet which is eventually engulfed during the giant branch phase could stabilise in the main sequence stage this asteroid belt for long enough to represent a source of pollution.…”

Section: S-type Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution

Veras

Rebassa‐Mansergas

2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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The atmospheres of between one quarter and one half of observed single white dwarfs in the Milky Way contain heavy element pollution from planetary debris. The pollution observed in white dwarfs in binary star systems is, however, less clear, because companion star winds can generate a stream of matter which is accreted by the white dwarf. Here we (i) discuss the necessity or lack thereof of a major planet in order to pollute a white dwarf with orbiting minor planets in both single and binary systems, and (ii) determine the critical binary separation beyond which the accretion source is from a planetary system. We hence obtain user-friendly functions relating this distance to the masses and radii of both stars, the companion wind, and the accretion rate onto the white dwarf, for a wide variety of published accretion prescriptions. We find that for the majority of white dwarfs in known binaries, if pollution is detected, then that pollution should originate from planetary material.

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“…Given the ubiquity of the white dwarf pollution phenomenon, a robust mechanism of extreme eccentricity excitation of planetesimals is needed (e.g. Bonsor et al 2011;Debes et al 2012;Petrovich & Muñoz 2017). These astrophysical contexts have revived the interest in mean motion resonances with eccentric planets as a generic mechanism for pumping the eccentricities of small bodies from ∼0 to ∼1, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme secular excitation of eccentricity inside mean motion resonance

Pichierri

Morbidelli

Lai

2017

A&A

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Context. It is well known that asteroids and comets fall into the Sun. Metal pollution of white dwarfs and transient spectroscopic signatures of young stars like β-Pic provide growing evidence that extra solar planetesimals can attain extreme orbital eccentricities and fall into their parent stars. Aims. We aim to develop a general, implementable, semi-analytical theory of secular eccentricity excitation of small bodies (planetesimals) in mean motion resonances with an eccentric planet valid for arbitrary values of the eccentricities and including the short-range force due to General Relativity. Methods. Our semi-analytic model for the restricted planar three-body problem does not make use of series expansion and therefore is valid for any eccentricity value and semi-major axis ratio. The model is based on the application of the adiabatic principle, which is valid when the precession period of the longitude of pericentre of the planetesimal is much longer than the libration period in the mean motion resonance. In resonances of order larger than 1 this is true except for vanishingly small eccentricities. We provide prospective users with a Mathematica notebook with implementation of the model allowing direct use. Results. We confirm that the 4:1 mean motion resonance with a moderately eccentric (e < ∼ 0.1) planet is the most powerful one to lift the eccentricity of planetesimals from nearly circular orbits to star-grazing ones. However, if the planet is too eccentric, we find that this resonance is unable to pump the planetesimal's eccentricity to a very high value. The inclusion of the General Relativity effect imposes a condition on the mass of the planet to drive the planetesimals into star-grazing orbits. For a planetesimal at ∼1 AU around a solar mass star (or white dwarf), we find a threshold planetary mass of about 17 Earth masses. We finally derive an analytical formula for this critical mass. Conclusions. Planetesimals can easily fall into the central star even in the presence of a single moderately eccentric planet, but only from the vicinity of the 4:1 mean motion resonance. For sufficiently high planetary masses the General Relativity effect does not prevent the achievement of star-grazing orbits.

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Planetary Engulfment as a Trigger for White Dwarf Pollution

Cited by 110 publications

References 88 publications

Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs – II. Debris disc structure and ejected interstellar asteroids

Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs – II. Debris disc structure and ejected interstellar asteroids

The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution

Extreme secular excitation of eccentricity inside mean motion resonance

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