Mass and eccentricity constraints on the planetary debris orbiting the white dwarf WD 1145+017

Abstract

Being the first of its kind, the white dwarf WD 1145+017 exhibits a complex system of disintegrating debris which offers a unique opportunity to study its disruption process in real time. Even with plenty of transit observations there are no clear constraints on the masses or eccentricities of such debris. Using $N$-body simulations we show that masses greater than approximately $10^{20}$ kg (a tenth of the mass of Ceres) or orbits that are not nearly circular ($\mathrm{eccentricity}>10^{-3}$) dramatically increase the chances of the system becoming unstable within two years, which would contrast with the observational data over this timespan. We also provide a direct comparison between transit phase shifts detected in the observations and by our numerical simulations.

Accepted to MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Numerical Simulations of Collisional Cascades at the Roche Limits of White Dwarf Stars
• Explaining the variability of WD 1145+017 with simulations of asteroid tidal disruption
• The Fate of Exomoons in White Dwarf Planetary Systems
• Evidence for eccentric, precessing gaseous debris in the circumstellar absorption towards WD 1145+017
• A dearth of small particles in the transiting material around the white dwarf WD 1145+017
• Magnetism, X-rays, and Accretion Rates in WD 1145+017 and other Polluted White Dwarf Systems
• The lifetimes of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs
• Constraining the origin of the planetary debris surrounding ZTF J0139+5245 through rotational fission of a triaxial asteroid
• WD 1145+017: Optical Activity During 2016-2017 and Limits on the X-Ray Flux
• Binary star influence on post-main-sequence multi-planet stability
• Orbital relaxation and excitation of planets tidally interacting with white dwarfs
• The dynamical history of the evaporating or disrupted ice giant planet around white dwarf WD J0914+1914
• The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution
• White dwarf planetary debris dependence on physical structure distributions within asteroid belts
• The unstable fate of the planet orbiting the A-star in the HD 131399 triple stellar system