The formation of high-field magnetic white dwarfs from common envelopes
arXiv:1010.1529 · doi:10.1073/pnas.1015005108
Abstract
The origin of highly-magnetized white dwarfs has remained a mystery since their initial discovery. Recent observations indicate that the formation of high-field magnetic white dwarfs is intimately related to strong binary interactions during post-main-sequence phases of stellar evolution. If a low-mass companion, such as a planet, brown dwarf, or low-mass star is engulfed by a post-main-sequence giant, the hydrodynamic drag in the envelope of the giant leads to a reduction of the companion's orbit. Sufficiently low-mass companions in-spiral until they are shredded by the strong gravitational tides near the white dwarf core. Subsequent formation of a super-Eddington accretion disk from the disrupted companion inside a common envelope can dramatically amplify magnetic fields via a dynamo. Here, we show that these disk-generated fields are sufficiently strong to explain the observed range of magnetic field strengths for isolated, high-field magnetic white dwarfs. A higher-mass binary analogue may also contribute to the origin of magnetar fields.
Accepted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Under PNAS embargo until time of publication
References in corpus (16)
- A Survey of Stellar Families: Multiplicity of Solar-Type Stars
- The Deuterium-Burning Mass Limit for Brown Dwarfs and Giant Planets
- Dimension as a Key to the Neutrino Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions
- Low-Mass Binary Induced Outflows from Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
- Binary Star Origin of High Field Magnetic White Dwarfs
- Spectropolarimetric Survey of Hydrogen-rich White Dwarf Stars
- The Interaction of Stellar Objects within a Common Envelope
- Can Extra Mixing in RGB and AGB Stars Be Attributed to Magnetic Mechanisms?
- Isolated vs. Common Envelope Dynamos in Planetary Nebula Progenitors
- Magnetic Mixing in Red Giant and Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
- The Role of Planet Accretion in Creating the Next Generation of Red Giant Rapid Rotators
- New Close Binary Systems from the SDSS-I (Data Release Five) and the Search for Magnetic White Dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variable Progenitor Systems
- A search for kilogauss magnetic fields in white dwarfs and hot subdwarf stars
- The pecular magnetic field morphology of the white dwarf WD 1953-011: evidence for a large-scale magnetic flux tube?
- A possible dearth of hot gas in galaxy groups at intermediate redshift
- Towards a Spectral Technique for Determining Material Geometry Around Evolved Stars: Application to HD 179821
Cited by in corpus (77)
- Observational clues to the progenitors of Type-Ia supernovae
- Magnetic White Dwarfs
- Double degenerate mergers as progenitors of high-field magnetic white dwarfs
- On the Orbits of Low-mass Companions to White Dwarfs and the Fates of the Known Exoplanets
- Magnetic fields in isolated and interacting white dwarfs
- Optical and X-ray Transients from Planet-Star Mergers
- Accretion in common envelope evolution
- A common origin of magnetism from planets to white dwarfs
- Strongly magnetized cold electron degenerate gas: Mass-radius relation of the magnetized white dwarf
- Looks can be deceiving: underestimating the age of single white dwarfs due to binary mergers
- The Post-Merger Magnetized Evolution of White Dwarf Binaries: The Double-Degenerate Channel of Sub-Chandrasekhar Type Ia Supernovae and the Formation of Magnetized White Dwarfs
- Magnetic Field Amplification During the Common Envelope Phase
- Identifying close binary central stars of PN with Kepler
- Magnetic Field Generation in Stars
- Merging Binary Stars and the magnetic white dwarfs
- Using Kinematic Properties of Pre-Planetary Nebulae to Constrain Engine Paradigms
- Binary Stars in the New Millennium
- The incidence of magnetic fields in cool DZ white dwarfs
- A study of high proper-motion white dwarfs I. Spectropolarimetry of a cool hydrogen-rich sample
- The Role of Convection in Determining the Ejection Efficiency of Common Envelope Interactions
- Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers
- The polluted atmospheres of cool white dwarfs and the magnetic field connection
- The Formation and Evolution of Wind-Capture Disks In Binary Systems
- Magnetism, X-rays, and Accretion Rates in WD 1145+017 and other Polluted White Dwarf Systems
- An Isolated White Dwarf with 317-Second Rotation and Magnetic Emission
- Magnetic Dipole Moment of SGRs and AXPs Described as Massive and Magnetic White Dwarfs
- Wind-accelerated orbital evolution in binary systems with giant stars
- Genesis of magnetic fields in isolated white dwarfs
- Giant planet engulfment by evolved giant stars: light curves, asteroseismology, and survivability
- Magnetars from Neutron Star--White Dwarf Mergers: Application to Fast Radio Bursts
- The cool magnetic DAZ white dwarf NLTT 10480
- Convection and Spin-Up During Common Envelope Evolution: The Formation of Short-Period Double White Dwarfs
- Enigmas from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 Kleinman White Dwarf Catalog
- The evolutionary state of short period magnetic white dwarf binaries
- Convection Reconciles the Difference in Efficiencies Between Low-Mass and High-Mass Common Envelopes
- Successive common envelope events from multiple planets
- Are white dwarf magnetic fields in close binaries generated during common-envelope evolution?
- Magnetic white dwarfs with debris discs
- A fast spinning magnetic white dwarf in the double-degenerate, super-Chandrasekhar system NLTT 12758
- Magnetic field breakout from white dwarf crystallization dynamos
- DAHe white dwarfs from the DESI survey
- Constraints on Relic Magnetic Black Holes
- VLT/X-shooter observations and the chemical composition of cool white dwarfs
- Spin and Magnetism of White Dwarfs
- Effects of Magnetic Fields in Hot White Dwarfs
- Magnetic dynamos in white dwarfs -- I. Explaining the dearth of bright intermediate polars in globular clusters
- Soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars as highly magnetized white dwarfs
- A test of the planet-star unipolar inductor for magnetic white dwarfs
- Hydrodynamics and survivability during post-main-sequence planetary engulfment
- The Rapid Rotation of the Strongly Magnetic Ultramassive White Dwarf EGGR 156
- AR Scorpii and possible gravitational wave radiation from pulsar white dwarfs
- Hydrodynamic Simulations of Disrupted Planetary Accretion Discs Inside the Core of an AGB Star
- Magnetic field evolution for crystallization-driven dynamos in C/O white dwarfs
- Intermediate-Mass Stars Become Magnetic White Dwarfs
- The first catalog of candidate white dwarf-main sequence binaries in open star clusters: A new window into common envelope evolution
- The polluted atmosphere of the white dwarf NLTT 25792 and the diversity of circumstellar environments
- Macro-scale fast flow and magnetic field generation in 2-temperature relativistic electron-ion plasmas of astrophysical objects
- Component masses of young, wide, non-magnetic white dwarf binaries in the SDSS DR7
- Magnetic White Dwarfs: Observations, Theory, and Future Prospects
- Two New White Dwarfs With Variable Magnetic Balmer Emission Lines
- The Formation of Discs in the Interior of AGB Stars from the Tidal Disruption of Planets and Brown Dwarfs
- A promising formation channel for symbiotic X-ray binaries: cases of IGR J17329-2731 and 4U 1700+24
- Clues to the origin and properties of magnetic white dwarfs
- The Creation of AGB Fallback Shells
- Discovery of Dipolar Chromospheres in Two White Dwarfs
- OGLE-BLAP-001 and ZGP-BLAP-08: two possible magnetic blue large-amplitude pulsators
- Younger age for the oldest magnetic white dwarfs
- 84 Second and 169 Second Rotation of Two Isolated, Ultramassive, Strongly Magnetic White Dwarfs
- A Binary Scenario for the Formation of Strongly Magnetized White Dwarfs
- A numerical code for the analysis of magnetic white dwarf spectra that includes field effects on the chemical equilibrium
- Effects of magnetic fields on the propagation of nuclear flames in magnetic white dwarfs
- Spectropolarimetry of stars across the H-R diagram
- Magnetic dynamos powered by white dwarf superficial convection
- Second-generation planet formation after tidal disruption from common envelope evolution
- Light Curve Models of Convective Common Envelopes
- Atmospheric Signatures of Common Envelope Evolution in White Dwarf Planets
- Slow convection and fast rotation in crystallization-driven white dwarf dynamos