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Spectroscopic evolution of disintegrating planetesimals : minutes to months variability in the circumstellar gas associated with WD 1145+017
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Redfield, Seth, Farihi, Jay, Cauley, P. Wilson, Parsons, Steven G., Gänsicke, B. T. (Boris T.) and M. Duvvuri, Girish (2017) Spectroscopic evolution of disintegrating planetesimals : minutes to months variability in the circumstellar gas associated with WD 1145+017. The Astrophysical Journal, 839 (1). 42. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa68a0
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa68a0
Abstract
With the recent discovery of transiting planetary material around WD 1145+017, a critical target has been identified that links the evolution of planetary systems with debris disks and their accretion onto the star. We present a series of observations, five epochs over a year, taken with Keck and the VLT, which for the first time show variability of circumstellar absorption in the gas disk surrounding WD 1145+017 on timescales of minutes to months. Circumstellar absorption is measured in more than 250 lines of 14 ions among 10 different elements associated with planetary composition, e.g., O, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni. Broad circumstellar gas absorption with a velocity spread of 225 km s−1 is detected, but over the course of a year blueshifted absorption disappears, while redshifted absorption systematically increases. A correlation of equivalent width and oscillator strength indicates that the gas is not highly optically thick (median τ ≈ 2). We discuss simple models of an eccentric disk coupled with magnetospheric accretion to explain the basic observed characteristics of these high-resolution and high signal-to-noise observations. Variability is detected on timescales of minutes in the two most recent observations, showing a loss of redshifted absorption for tens of minutes, coincident with major transit events and consistent with gas hidden behind opaque transiting material. This system currently presents a unique opportunity to learn how the gas causing the spectroscopic, circumstellar absorption is associated with the ongoing accretion evidenced by photospheric contamination, as well as the transiting planetary material detected in photometric observations.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | ||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Physics | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Extrasolar planets, Protoplanetary disks, Cosmic abundances, White dwarf stars, Circumstellar matter | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | The Astrophysical Journal | ||||||
| Publisher: | Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc. | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0004-637X | ||||||
| Official Date: | 12 April 2017 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 839 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Article Number: | 42 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/aa68a0 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Funder: | Seventh Framework Programme (European Commission) (FP7), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF) | ||||||
| Grant number: | 320964 (FP7), AST-1313268 (NSF) |
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