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Unstable low-mass planetary systems as drivers of white dwarf pollution

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Mustill, Alexander J., Villaver, Eva, Veras, Dimitri, Gänsicke, B. T. (Boris T.) and Bonsor, Amy (2018) Unstable low-mass planetary systems as drivers of white dwarf pollution. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 476 (3). pp. 3939-3955. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty446

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty446

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Abstract

At least 25 percent of white dwarfs show atmospheric pollution by metals, sometimes accompanied by detectable circumstellar dust/gas discs or (in the case of WD 1145+017) transiting disintegrating asteroids. Delivery of planetesimals to the white dwarf by orbiting planets is a leading candidate to explain these phenomena. Here, we study systems of planets and planetesimals undergoing planet–planet scattering triggered by the star's post-main-sequence mass loss, and test whether this can maintain high rates of delivery over the several Gyr that they are observed. We find that low-mass planets (Earth to Neptune mass) are efficient deliverers of material and can maintain the delivery for Gyr. Unstable low-mass planetary systems reproduce the observed delayed onset of significant accretion, as well as the slow decay in accretion rates at late times. Higher-mass planets are less efficient, and the delivery only lasts a relatively brief time before the planetesimal populations are cleared. The orbital inclinations of bodies as they cross the white dwarf's Roche limit are roughly isotropic, implying that significant collisional interactions of asteroids, debris streams and discs can be expected. If planet–planet scattering is indeed responsible for the pollution of white dwarfs, many such objects, and their main-sequence progenitors, can be expected to host (currently undetectable) super-Earth planets on orbits of several au and beyond.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): White dwarf stars, Circumstellar matter, Space environment, Astrophysics, Stellar activity, Planets -- Atmospheres
Journal or Publication Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISSN: 0035-8711
Official Date: 21 February 2018
Dates:
DateEvent
21 February 2018Published
16 February 2018Accepted
Volume: 476
Number: 3
Page Range: pp. 3939-3955
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty446
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder: Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain)
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
ST/P003850/1Science and Technology Facilities Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000271
2014.0017 ‘IMPACT’Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelsehttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004063
AYA-2014-55840P. BTG Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain)UNSPECIFIED
FP/2007–2013H2020 European Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663
320964H2020 European Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663
UNSPECIFIEDRoyal SocietyUNSPECIFIED

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