Configuration of Single Giant Planet Systems Generating `Oumuamua-Like Interstellar Asteroids

Abstract

The first discovered interstellar small object, `Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1), presents unique physical properties of extremely elongated geometric shape and dual characteristics of an asteroid and a comet. These properties suggest a possible origin through tidal fragmentation, which posits that `Oumuamua was produced through intensive tidal fragmentation during a close encounter with a star or a white dwarf, resulting in its shape and ejection from its natal system. According to this mechanism, a high initial orbit eccentricity and a small pericentre of the parent body are necessary to produce `Oumuamua-like objects. To verify whether this mechanism can occur in single giant planet systems, we conduct long-term numerical simulations of systems with a low-mass ($0.5M_{\odot }$) host star and a giant planet in this study. We determine that an eccentric orbit ($e_{\mathrm{p}}\sim 0.2$) and a Jupiter-mass ($M_{\mathrm{p}}\sim M_{\mathrm{J}}$) of the planet appears to be optimal to generate sufficient perturbations for the production of `Oumuamua-like objects. When the planetary semi-major axis $a_{\mathrm{p}}$ increases, the proportion of planetesimals ejected beyond the system $P(\mathrm{ej})$ increases accordingly, while the possibilities of ejected planetesimals undergoing stellar tidal fragmentation $P(\mathrm{tidal}|\mathrm{ej})$ remains relatively constant at $\sim 0.6\%$. Focusing on stellar tidal fragmentation alone, the ratio of extremely elongated interstellar objects to all interstellar objects is $P_{\mathrm{e}}\sim 3\%$.

10 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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