Survival of a brown dwarf after engulfment by a red giant star

Maxted, P. F. L.; Napiwotzki, R.; Dobbie, P. D.; Burleigh, M. R.

doi:10.1038/nature04987

Cited by 172 publications

(211 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…Brown dwarf companions to WDs are rare ( less than 0.5%; Farihi et al 2005) and such companions are expected to end up in short period systems (P < 1 day) after the common envelope phase. Such short period brown dwarf companions would reveal their presence through H emission as in the case of WD 0137À349 ( Maxted et al 2006).…”

Section: Single Low-mass White Dwarfsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future Is Now: The Formation of Single Low‐Mass White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood

Kilic

Stanek

Pinsonneault

2007

ApJ

104

115

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Low-mass helium-core white dwarfs (M < 0:45 M ) can be produced from interacting binary systems, and traditionally all of them have been attributed to this channel. However, a low-mass white dwarf could also result from a single star that experiences severe mass loss on the first ascent giant branch. A large population of low-mass He-core white dwarfs has been discovered in the old metal-rich cluster NGC 6791. There is therefore a mechanism in clusters to produce low-mass white dwarfs without requiring binary star interactions, and we search for evidence of a similar population in field white dwarfs. We argue that there is a significant field population (of order half of the detected systems) that arises from old metal-rich stars which truncate their evolution prior to the helium flash from severe mass loss. There is a consistent absence of evidence for nearby companions in a large fraction of low-mass white dwarfs. The number of old metal-rich field dwarfs is also comparable with the apparently single low-mass white dwarf population, and our revised estimate for the space density of low-mass white dwarfs produced from binary interactions is also compatible with theoretical expectations. This indicates that this channel of stellar evolution, hitherto thought hypothetical only, has been in operation in our own Galaxy for many billions of years. One strong implication of our model is that single low-mass white dwarfs should be good targets for planet searches because they are likely to arise from metal-rich progenitors. We also discuss other observational tests and implications, including the potential impact on SNIa rates and the frequency of planetary nebulae.

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Section: Single Low-mass White Dwarfsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future Is Now: The Formation of Single Low‐Mass White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood

Kilic

Stanek

Pinsonneault

2007

ApJ

104

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Because a white dwarf's luminosity peaks in the ultraviolet or optical, a cool companion can be easily detected as an infrared excess. Those searches started in the late 80 s, and so far, only brown dwarf companions have been discovered (Zuckerman & Becklin 1987;Maxted et al 2006;Farihi et al 2008;Kilic et al 2009). -Planetary transit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An extreme-AO search for giant planets around a white dwarf

Ertel

Wahhaj

et al. 2015

A&A

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Context. Little is known about the planetary systems around single white dwarfs, although there is strong evidence that they do exist. Aims. We performed a pilot study with the extreme-AO system on the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) on the Very Large Telescopes (VLT) to look for giant planets around a young white dwarf, GD 50. Methods. We were awarded science verification time on the new ESO instrument SPHERE. Observations were made with the InfraRed Dual-band Imager and Spectrograph in classical imaging mode in H band. Results. Despite the faintness of the target (14.2 mag in R band), the AO loop was closed and a strehl of 37% was reached in H band. No objects were detected around GD 50. We achieved a 5-sigma contrast of 6.2, 8.0, and 8.25 mag at 0. 2, 0. 4, and 0. 6 and beyond, respectively. We exclude any substellar objects more massive than 4.0 M J at 6.2 au, 2.9 M J at 12.4 au, and 2.8 M J at 18.6 au and beyond. This rivals the previous upper limit set by Spitzer. We further show that SPHERE is the most promising instrument available to search for close-in substellar objects around nearby white dwarfs.

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“…White dwarf-brown dwarf binaries provide a case where the brown dwarfs are not outshone by their companions, and therefore an opportunity to study irradiated brown dwarfs. In five of these systems, WD0137-349B (Maxted et al 2006), NLTT5306 (Steele et al 2013), SDSS141126þ200911 (Beuermann et al 2013), WD0837þ185 (Casewell et al 2012) and GD1400B (Farihi and Christopher 2004), the brown dwarf is known to have survived a phase of common envelope Fig. 13 Light curves of the total intensity (Stokes I) and the circularly polarised (Stokes V) radio emission detected at 8.44 GHz from TVLM 513-46546, an M9.5 dwarf, taken from Hallinan et al (2007).…”

Section: Multi-wavelength Observations Of Activity On Ultracool Dwarfsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bailey et al (2014) apply scaling laws to demonstrate that discharges will propagate farther in brown dwarf atmospheres than in atmospheres of giant gas planets. Brown dwarfs can be irradiated by a binary companion (Maxted et al 2006;Casewell et al 2013, Sect. 5.1) resulting in similar global circulation patterns as demonstrated for irradiated giant gas planets (e.g., Knutson et al 2007;Dobbs-Dixon and Agol 2013).…”

Section: Ionisation Processes In Ultracool Atmospheresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Electrification in Dusty, Reactive Gases in the Solar System and Beyond

et al. 2016

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Detailed observations of the solar system planets reveal a wide variety of local atmospheric conditions. Astronomical observations have revealed a variety of extrasolar planets none of which resembles any of the solar system planets in full. Instead, the most massive amongst the extrasolar planets, the gas giants, appear very similar to the class of (young) brown dwarfs which are amongst the oldest objects in the Universe. Despite this diversity, solar system planets, extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs have broadly similar global temperatures between 300 and 2500 K. In consequence, clouds of different chemical species form in their atmospheres. While the details of these clouds differ, the fundamental physical processes are the same. Further to this, all these objects were observed to produce radio and X-ray emissions. While both kinds of radiation are well studied on Earth and to a lesser extent on the solar system planets, the occurrence of emissions that potentially originate from accelerated electrons on brown dwarfs, extrasolar planets and protoplanetary disks is not well understood yet. This paper offers an interdisciplinary view on electrification processes and their feedback on their hosting environment in meteorology, volcanology, planetology and research on extrasolar planets and planet formation.

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Survival of a brown dwarf after engulfment by a red giant star

Cited by 172 publications

References 26 publications

The Future Is Now: The Formation of Single Low‐Mass White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood

The Future Is Now: The Formation of Single Low‐Mass White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood

An extreme-AO search for giant planets around a white dwarf

Atmospheric Electrification in Dusty, Reactive Gases in the Solar System and Beyond

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