2021MNRAS.504.2853H -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 504, 2853-2867 (2021/June-3)
Bayesian constraints on the origin and geology of exoplanetary material using a population of externally polluted white dwarfs.
HARRISON J.H.D., BONSOR A., KAMA M., BUCHAN A.M., BLOUIN S. and KOESTER D.
Abstract (from CDS):
White dwarfs that have accreted planetary bodies are a powerful probe of the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. In this paper, we present a Bayesian model to explain the abundances observed in the atmospheres of 202 DZ white dwarfs by considering the heating, geochemical differentiation, and collisional processes experienced by the planetary bodies accreted, as well as gravitational sinking. The majority (>60 per cent) of systems are consistent with the accretion of primitive material. We attribute the small spread in refractory abundances observed to a similar spread in the initial planet-forming material, as seen in the compositions of nearby stars. A range in Na abundances in the pollutant material is attributed to a range in formation temperatures from below 1000 K to higher than 1400 K, suggesting that pollutant material arrives in white dwarf atmospheres from a variety of radial locations. We also find that Solar System-like differentiation is common place in exoplanetary systems. Extreme siderophile (Fe, Ni, or Cr) abundances in eight systems require the accretion of a core-rich fragment of a larger differentiated body to at least a 3σ significance, whilst one system shows evidence that it accreted a crust-rich fragment. In systems where the abundances suggest that accretion has finished (13/202), the total mass accreted can be calculated. The 13 systems are estimated to have accreted masses ranging from the mass of the Moon to half that of Vesta. Our analysis suggests that accretion continues for 11 Myrs on average.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
minor planets, asteroids: general - planets and satellites: formation, composition - protoplanetary discs - stars: abundances - white dwarfs
Status at CDS
:
All or part of tables of objects will not be ingested in SIMBAD.
CDS comments:
Table A2 will not be ingested in SIMBAD : compilation of 202 known White Dwarfs; only aliases JHHMM+DDMM are provided, no coordinates.
Simbad objects:
16
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