White Dwarf Pollution by Asteroids from Secular Resonances

Abstract

In the past few decades, observations have revealed signatures of metals polluting the atmospheres of white dwarfs. The diffusion timescale for metals to sink from the atmosphere of a white dwarf is of the order of days for a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Thus, there must be a continuous supply of metal-rich material accreting onto these white dwarfs. We investigate the role of secular resonances that excite the eccentricity of asteroids allowing them to reach star-grazing orbits leading them to tidal disruption and the formation of a debris disc. Changes in the planetary system during the evolution of the star lead to a change in the location of secular resonances. In our Solar System, the engulfment of the Earth will cause the ${\nu }_6$ resonance to shift outwards which will force previously stable asteroids to undergo secular resonant perturbations. With analytic models and $N$--body simulations we show that secular resonances driven by two outer companions can provide a source of continuous pollution. Secular resonances are a viable mechanism for the pollution of white dwarfs in a variety of exoplanetary system architectures.

12 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (24)

• The frequency of planetary debris around young white dwarfs
• A gaseous metal disk around a white dwarf
• Foretellings of Ragnarök: World-engulfing Asymptotic Giants and the Inheritance of White Dwarfs
• Hot Jupiters and Cool Stars
• Distant future of the Sun and Earth revisited
• Debris Disks Around White Dwarfs: The DAZ Connection
• Carbon Deficiency in Externally-Polluted White Dwarfs: Evidence for Accretion of Asteroids
• The accretion-diffusion scenario for metals in cool white dwarfs
• Most Sub-Arcsecond Companions of Kepler Exoplanet Candidate Host Stars are Gravitationally Bound
• Mass loss on the red giant branch: the value and metallicity dependence of Reimers' η in globular clusters
• X-ray and Infrared Observations of Two Externally-Polluted White Dwarfs
• Scars of Intense Accretion Episodes at Metal-Rich White Dwarfs
• Planetary engulfment as a trigger for white dwarf pollution
• Evolution of Thermally Pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars IV. Constraining Mass-Loss & Lifetimes of Low Mass, Low Metallicity AGB Stars
• Asteroid families in the first order resonances with Jupiter
• White dwarf pollution by planets in stellar binaries
• Does a Differentiated, Carbonate-Rich, Rocky Object Pollute the White Dwarf SDSSJ104341.53+085558.2?
• The Asteroid Belt as a Relic From a Chaotic Early Solar System
• The Fate of Exomoons in White Dwarf Planetary Systems
• A dearth of small particles in the transiting material around the white dwarf WD 1145+017
• Dynamical transport of asteroid fragments from the nu6 resonance
• ALMA and Herschel Observations of the Prototype Dusty and Polluted White Dwarf G29-38
• The critical binary star separation for a planetary system origin of white dwarf pollution
• Asteroid impacts on terrestrial planets: The effects of super-Earths and the role of the ${\nu }_6$ resonance

Cited by in corpus (52)

• A White Dwarf with Transiting Circumstellar Material Far Outside the Roche Limit
• The unbiased frequency of planetary signatures around single and binary white dwarfs using $Spitzer$ and $Hubble$
• Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs I: A hybrid SPH-analytical approach
• Tidal disruption of planetary bodies by white dwarfs II: Debris disc structure and ejected interstellar asteroids
• Planetary Systems Around White Dwarfs
• Relentless and Complex Transits from a Planetesimal Debris Disk
• Infrared Variability of Two Dusty White Dwarfs
• Circularization of tidal debris around white dwarfs: implications for gas production and dust variability
• A 3 Gyr White Dwarf with Warm Dust Discovered via the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Citizen Science Project
• Speeding past planets? Asteroids radiatively propelled by giant branch Yarkovsky effects
• No evidence for a strong decrease of planetesimal accretion in old white dwarfs
• The lifetimes of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs
• Do instabilities in high-multiplicity systems explain the existence of close-in white dwarf planets?
• Post-main-sequence debris from rotation-induced YORP break-up of small bodies II: multiple fissions, internal strengths and binary production
• Tidal circularization of gaseous planets orbiting white dwarfs
• How Jupiters save or destroy inner Neptunes around evolved stars
• Embedding planetesimals into white dwarf discs from large distances
• Understanding the origin of white dwarf atmospheric pollution by dynamical simulations based on detected three-planet systems
• Accretion of tidally disrupted asteroids onto white dwarfs: direct accretion versus disk processing
• Orbital relaxation and excitation of planets tidally interacting with white dwarfs
• Circumbinary exoplanets and brown dwarfs with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Effects of non-Kozai mutual inclinations on two-planet system stability through all phases of stellar evolution
• The dynamical history of the evaporating or disrupted ice giant planet around white dwarf WD J0914+1914
• Investigation of the asteroid-neutron star collision model for the repeating fast radio bursts
• Driving white dwarf metal pollution through unstable eccentric periodic orbits
• Asynchronous accretion can mimic diverse white dwarf pollutants I: core and mantle fragments
• Secular chaos in white-dwarf planetary systems: origins of metal pollution and short-period planetary companions
• Magnetic dynamos in white dwarfs -- II. Relating magnetism and pollution
• Chaotic rotation and evolution of asteroids and small planets in high-eccentricity orbits around white dwarfs
• Survivability of radio-loud planetary cores orbiting white dwarfs
• Metal pollution of the solar white dwarf by solar system small bodies
• Formation of eccentric gas discs from sublimating or partially disrupted asteroids orbiting white dwarfs
• On the role of resonances in polluting white dwarfs by asteroids
• Near-infrared variability in dusty white dwarfs: tracing the accretion of planetary material
• Prospects for detecting exoplanets around double white dwarfs with LISA and Taiji
• The entry geometry and velocity of planetary debris into the Roche sphere of a white dwarf
• Linking the formation and fate of exo-Kuiper belts within solar system analogues
• Constraining planet formation around 6$M_{\odot }$-8$M_{\odot }$ stars
• On the pollution of white dwarfs by exo-Oort cloud comets
• The white dwarf planet WD J0914+1914 b: barricading potential rocky pollutants?
• Disentangling the parameter space: The role of planet multiplicity in triggering dynamical instabilities on planetary systems around white dwarfs
• The post-main-sequence fate of the HR 8799 planetary system
• Birth cluster simulations of planetary systems with multiple super-Earths: initial conditions for white dwarf pollution drivers
• Asteroid belt survival through stellar evolution: dependence on the stellar mass
• Polluting White Dwarfs with Oort Cloud Comets
• Formation of the warped debris disc around $\beta$ Pictoris
• Short-term stability of particles in the WD J0914+1914 white dwarf planetary system
• High-resolution resonant portraits of a single-planet white dwarf system
• Late Delivery of Nitrogen to Earth
• Asteroids and life: How special is the solar system?
• Binary asteroid dissociation and accretion around white dwarfs
• Three-body Mean Motion Resonance Chains as a Delivery Mechanism for White Dwarf Pollution