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Cold giant planets evaporated by hot white dwarfs

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Schreiber, Matthias R., Gaensicke, B. T., Toloza, Odette, Hernandez, Mercedes-S. and Lagos, Felipe (2019) Cold giant planets evaporated by hot white dwarfs. The Astrophysical Journal, 887 (1). L4. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab42e2

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab42e2

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Abstract

Atmospheric escape from close-in Neptunes and hot Jupiters around Sun-like stars driven by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiation plays an important role in the evolution of exoplanets and in shaping their ensemble properties. Intermediate and low mass stars are brightest at EUV wavelengths at the very end of their lives, after they have expelled their envelopes and evolved into hot white dwarfs. Yet the effect of the intense EUV irradiation of giant planets orbiting young white dwarfs has not been assessed. We show that the giant planets in the solar system will experience significant hydrodynamic escape caused by the EUV irradiation from the white dwarf left behind by the Sun. A fraction of the evaporated volatiles will be accreted by the solar white dwarf, resulting in detectable photospheric absorption lines. As a large number of the currently known extrasolar giant planets will survive the metamorphosis of their host stars into white dwarfs, observational signatures of accretion from evaporating planetary atmospheres are expected to be common. In fact, one-third of the known hot single white dwarfs show photospheric absorption lines of volatile elements, which we argue are indicative of ongoing accretion from evaporating planets. The fraction of volatile contaminated hot white dwarfs strongly decreases as they cool. We show that accretion from evaporating planetary atmospheres naturally explains this temperature dependence if more than 50% of hot white dwarfs still host giant planets.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): White dwarf stars , Extrasolar planets, Extrasolar planets -- Atmospheres , Solar system
Journal or Publication Title: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
ISSN: 0004-637X
Official Date: 4 December 2019
Dates:
DateEvent
4 December 2019Published
10 September 2019Accepted
Date of first compliant deposit: 6 January 2020
Volume: 887
Number: 1
Article Number: L4
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab42e2
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Copyright Holders: © 2019. The American Astronomical Society
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
1181404[FONDECYT] Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológicohttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002850
UNSPECIFIEDLeverhulme Trusthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000275
ST/P000495[STFC] Science and Technology Facilities Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000271
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