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Binary asteroid scattering around white dwarfs
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McDonald, Catriona H. and Veras, Dimitri (2023) Binary asteroid scattering around white dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520 (3). pp. 4009-4022. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad382 ISSN 0035-8711.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad382
Abstract
Increasing observations of white dwarf atmospheric pollution and disrupting planetesimals is driving increased studies into the fate of exo-asteroids around post-main-sequence stars. Planetesimal populations in the Solar System which are most likely to survive the violent post-main-sequence evolution, such as the Kuiper Belt, display a large binary fraction with a propensity for near equal-mass components and provide a previously unexplored population of planetesimals which are likely to exist around white dwarfs. Here we simulate the dynamical evolution of equal-mass binary asteroid systems around white dwarfs using the N-body integrator REBOUND for 1 Gyr. We confirm that giant planets are efficient at dissociating and ejecting binary asteroid systems on eccentric orbits, while Earth-mass planets are better at keeping planetesimals in their planetary systems. We find binary systems can be dissociated and ejected from their systems across Myr timescales, producing interstellar objects. We do not expect a population of free-floating binary asteroid systems as all ejected planetesimals are gravitationally unbound from each other. Further, we discuss the influence of asteroid binarity on the white dwarf pollution process and find there is little to no impact on how close a body can get to a star. However, the orbital evolution of binary asteroids changes the distribution of planetesimals available in a white dwarf planetary system to be further scattered onto white dwarf polluting orbits.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Asteroids, White dwarf stars, Planets, Kuiper Belt, Solar system | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | ||||||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0035-8711 | ||||||||
Official Date: | April 2023 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 520 | ||||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 4009-4022 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stad382 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 9 March 2023 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 9 March 2023 | ||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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