Evidence for eccentric, precessing gaseous debris in the circumstellar absorption towards WD 1145+017

Abstract

We present time-series spectra revealing changes in the circumstellar line profiles for the white dwarf WD 1145+017. Over the course of 2.2 years, the spectra show complete velocity reversals in the circumstellar absorption, moving from strongly red-shifted in 2015 April to strongly blue-shifted in 2017 June. The depth of the absorption also varies, increasing by a factor of two over the same period. The dramatic changes in the line profiles are consistent with eccentric circumstellar gas rings undergoing general relativistic precession. As the argument of periapsis of the rings change relative to the line of sight, the transiting gas shifts from receding in 2016 to approaching in 2017. Based on the precession timescales in the favored model, we make predictions for the line profiles over the next few years. Spectroscopic monitoring of WD 1145+017 will test these projections and aid in developing more accurate white dwarf accretion disk models.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Email pwcauley at gmail.com for an animation of the ring complex

References in corpus (28)

• X-shooter, the new wide band intermediate resolution spectrograph at the ESO Very Large Telescope
• A disintegrating minor planet transiting a white dwarf
• The frequency of planetary debris around young white dwarfs
• A gaseous metal disk around a white dwarf
• Ancient planetary systems are orbiting a large fraction of white dwarf stars
• Circumstellar Debris and Pollution at White Dwarf Stars
• Dynamical effects of stellar mass loss on a Kuiper-like belt
• Circularization of Tidally Disrupted Stars around Spinning Supermassive Black Holes
• Formation of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs I: Tidal disruption of an extremely eccentric asteroid
• Evidence for Water in the Rocky Debris of a Disrupted Extrasolar Minor Planet
• Debris disc stirring by secular perturbations from giant planets
• Global Models of Runaway Accretion in White Dwarf Debris Disks
• Runaway accretion of metals from compact debris disks onto white dwarfs
• Echoes of a decaying planetary system: the gaseous and dusty disks surrounding three white dwarfs
• Evolution of OH and CO-dark Molecular Gas Fraction Across a Molecular Cloud Boundary In Taurus
• SDSSJ084539.17+225728.0: the first DBZ white dwarf with a metal-rich gaseous debris disc
• Likely detection of water-rich asteroid debris in a metal-polluted white dwarf
• Two Beyond-Primitive Extrasolar Planetesimals
• Drifting Asteroid Fragments Around WD 1145+017
• High-speed photometry of the disintegrating planetesimals at WD1145+017: evidence for rapid dynamical evolution
• Numerical Simulations of Collisional Cascades at the Roche Limits of White Dwarf Stars
• Infrared observations of white dwarfs and the implications for the accretion of dusty planetary material
• Limb-Darkening Coefficients for Eclipsing White Dwarfs
• Multiwavelength Transit Observations of the Candidate Disintegrating Planetesimals Orbiting WD 1145+017
• Spectroscopic Evolution of Disintegrating Planetesimals: Minutes to Months Variability in the Circumstellar Gas Associated with WD 1145+017
• Numerical Simulations of Gaseous Disks Generated from Collisional Cascades at the Roche Limits of White Dwarf Stars
• Another one grinds the dust: Variability of the planetary debris disc at the white dwarf SDSS J104341.53+085558.2
• Mass and eccentricity constraints on the planetary debris orbiting the white dwarf WD 1145+017

Cited by in corpus (38)

• The unbiased frequency of planetary signatures around single and binary white dwarfs using $Spitzer$ and $Hubble$
• Interpretation and diversity of exoplanetary material orbiting white dwarfs
• Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs I: A hybrid SPH-analytical approach
• The frequency of gaseous debris discs around white dwarfs
• Recurring Planetary Debris Transits and Circumstellar Gas around White Dwarf ZTF J0328$-$1219
• Rapid Evolution of the Gaseous Exoplanetary Debris Around the White Dwarf Star HE 1349--2305
• Planetary Systems Around White Dwarfs
• Serendipitous Discovery of Nine White Dwarfs With Gaseous Debris Disks
• Dust Production and Depletion in Evolved Planetary Systems
• White dwarfs with planetary remnants in the era of Gaia I: six emission line systems
• Relentless and Complex Transits from a Planetesimal Debris Disk
• Most white dwarfs with detectable dust discs show infrared variability
• Five New Post-Main-Sequence Debris Disks with Gaseous Emission
• The dust never settles: collisional production of gas and dust in evolved planetary systems
• Modeling of the Variable Circumstellar Absorption Features of WD 1145+017
• Fast spectrophotometry of WD 1145+017
• Fast and Slow Precession of Gaseous Debris Disks Around Planet-Accreting White Dwarfs
• The lifetimes of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs
• Tidal circularization of gaseous planets orbiting white dwarfs
• Embedding planetesimals into white dwarf discs from large distances
• Orbital relaxation and excitation of planets tidally interacting with white dwarfs
• Collisions in a gas-rich white dwarf planetary debris disc
• High-eccentricity migration of planetesimals around polluted white dwarfs
• A Characterization of the Circumstellar Gas around WD 1124-293 using Cloudy
• Shallow Ultraviolet Transits of WD 1145+017
• Hamiltonian hydrodynamics of eccentric discs
• Formation of eccentric gas discs from sublimating or partially disrupted asteroids orbiting white dwarfs
• Survivability of radio-loud planetary cores orbiting white dwarfs
• Necroplanetology: Simulating the Tidal Disruption of Differentiated Planetary Material Orbiting WD 1145+017
• Probing the eccentricity in protostellar discs -- Modeling kinematics and morphologies
• Dynamical structure of highly eccentric discs with applications to tidal disruption events
• Revisiting the Chemical Composition of WD 1145+017: Impact of Circumstellar Disks Contamination on Photospheric Abundances
• Velocity-imaging the rapidly precessing planetary disc around the white dwarf HE 1349-2305 using Doppler tomography
• WD 1145+017: Alternative models of the atmosphere, dust clouds, and gas rings
• Generating metal-polluting debris in white dwarf planetary systems from small-impact crater ejecta
• Focusing of nonlinear eccentric waves in astrophysical discs
• Planetesimals drifting through dusty and gaseous white dwarf debris discs: Types I, II and III-like migration
• Origin of Ca II emission around polluted white dwarfs