Are exoplanetesimals differentiated? Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Bonsor A.
  2. Carter P.J.
  3. Hollands M.
  4. Gansicke B.T.
  5. Leinhardt Z.,Harrison J.H.D.
  6. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

Metals observed in the atmospheres of white dwarfs suggest that many have recently accreted planetary bodies. In some cases, the compositions observed suggest the accretion of material dominantly from the core (or the mantle) of a differentiated planetary body. Collisions between differentiated exoplanetesimals produce such fragments. In this work, we take advantage of the large numbers of white dwarfs where at least one siderophile (core-loving) and one lithophile (rock-loving) species have been detected to assess how commonly exoplanetesimals differentiate. We utilize N-body simulations that track the fate of core and mantle material during the collisional evolution of planetary systems to show that most remnants of differentiated planetesimals retain core fractions similar to their parents, while some are extremely core rich or mantle rich. Comparison with the white dwarf data for calcium and iron indicates that the data are consistent with a model in which 66^+4^_-6_ per cent have accreted the remnants of differentiated planetesimals, while 31^+5^_-5_ per cent have Ca/Fe abundances altered by the effects of heating (although the former can be as high as 100 per cent, if heating is ignored). These conclusions assume pollution by a single body and that collisional evolution retains similar features across diverse planetary systems. These results imply that both collisions and differentiation are key processes in exoplanetary systems. We highlight the need for a larger sample of polluted white dwarfs with precisely determined metal abundances to better understand the process of differentiation in exoplanetary systems.

Keywords
  1. exoplanets
  2. white-dwarf-stars
  3. chemically-peculiar-stars
  4. effective-temperature
  5. visible-astronomy
  6. spectroscopy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2020MNRAS.492.2683B
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/492/2683
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/492/2683
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.74922683

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History

2023-06-12T14:54:13Z
Resource record created
2023-06-12T14:54:13Z
Created
2024-08-20T20:15:34Z
Updated

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