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Can Gaia find planets around white dwarfs?

Sanderson, Hannah ; Bonsor, Amy and Mustill, Alexander LU orcid (2022) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 517(4). p.5835-5852
Abstract

The Gaia spacecraft presents an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the population of long period (a > 1 au) exoplanets orbiting stars across the H-R diagram, including white dwarfs. White dwarf planetary systems have played an important role in the study of planetary compositions, from their unique ability to provide bulk elemental abundances of planetary material in their atmospheres. Yet, very little is known about the population of planets around white dwarfs. This paper predicts the population of planets that Gaia will detect around white dwarfs, evolved from known planets orbiting main-sequence stars. We predict that Gaia will detect 8 ± 2 planets around white dwarfs: 8pm 3 percent will lie inside 3 au and 40\pm 10 percent will... (More)

The Gaia spacecraft presents an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the population of long period (a > 1 au) exoplanets orbiting stars across the H-R diagram, including white dwarfs. White dwarf planetary systems have played an important role in the study of planetary compositions, from their unique ability to provide bulk elemental abundances of planetary material in their atmospheres. Yet, very little is known about the population of planets around white dwarfs. This paper predicts the population of planets that Gaia will detect around white dwarfs, evolved from known planets orbiting main-sequence stars. We predict that Gaia will detect 8 ± 2 planets around white dwarfs: 8pm 3 percent will lie inside 3 au and 40\pm 10 percent will be less massive than Jupiter. As surviving planets likely become dynamically detached from their outer systems, those white dwarfs with Gaia detected planets may not have planetary material in their atmospheres. Comparison between the predicted planet population and that found by Gaia will reveal the importance of dynamical instabilities and scattering of planets after the main-sequence, as well as whether photoevaporation removes the envelopes of gas giants during their giant branch evolution.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
astrometry, planets and satellites: detection, white dwarfs
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
517
issue
4
pages
18 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85145357774
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stac2867
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1cac2fdf-3381-4766-bf7b-1fc54c0166c3
date added to LUP
2023-01-16 16:14:31
date last changed
2024-04-17 20:52:34
@article{1cac2fdf-3381-4766-bf7b-1fc54c0166c3,
  abstract     = {{<p>The Gaia spacecraft presents an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the population of long period (a &gt; 1 au) exoplanets orbiting stars across the H-R diagram, including white dwarfs. White dwarf planetary systems have played an important role in the study of planetary compositions, from their unique ability to provide bulk elemental abundances of planetary material in their atmospheres. Yet, very little is known about the population of planets around white dwarfs. This paper predicts the population of planets that Gaia will detect around white dwarfs, evolved from known planets orbiting main-sequence stars. We predict that Gaia will detect 8 ± 2 planets around white dwarfs: 8pm 3 percent will lie inside 3 au and 40\pm 10 percent will be less massive than Jupiter. As surviving planets likely become dynamically detached from their outer systems, those white dwarfs with Gaia detected planets may not have planetary material in their atmospheres. Comparison between the predicted planet population and that found by Gaia will reveal the importance of dynamical instabilities and scattering of planets after the main-sequence, as well as whether photoevaporation removes the envelopes of gas giants during their giant branch evolution.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sanderson, Hannah and Bonsor, Amy and Mustill, Alexander}},
  issn         = {{0035-8711}},
  keywords     = {{astrometry; planets and satellites: detection; white dwarfs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{5835--5852}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{Can Gaia find planets around white dwarfs?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2867}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stac2867}},
  volume       = {{517}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}