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Simulations of two-planet systems through all phases of stellar evolution: implications for the instability boundary and white dwarf pollution

Veras, Dimitri ; Mustill, Alexander LU orcid ; Bonsor, Amy and Wyatt, Mark C (2013) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 431(2). p.1686-1708
Abstract
Exoplanets have been observed at many stages of their host star's life, including the main-sequence (MS), subgiant and red giant branch stages. Also, polluted white dwarfs (WDs) likely represent dynamically active systems at late times. Here, we perform three-body simulations which include realistic post-MS stellar mass-loss and span the entire lifetime of exosystems with two massive planets, from the endpoint of formation to several Gyr into the WD phase of the host star. We find that both MS and WD systems experience ejections and star-planet collisions (Lagrange instability) even if the planet-planet separation well-exceeds the analytical orbit-crossing (Hill instability) boundary. Consequently, MS-stable planets do not need to be... (More)
Exoplanets have been observed at many stages of their host star's life, including the main-sequence (MS), subgiant and red giant branch stages. Also, polluted white dwarfs (WDs) likely represent dynamically active systems at late times. Here, we perform three-body simulations which include realistic post-MS stellar mass-loss and span the entire lifetime of exosystems with two massive planets, from the endpoint of formation to several Gyr into the WD phase of the host star. We find that both MS and WD systems experience ejections and star-planet collisions (Lagrange instability) even if the planet-planet separation well-exceeds the analytical orbit-crossing (Hill instability) boundary. Consequently, MS-stable planets do not need to be closely packed to experience instability during the WD phase. This instability may pollute the WD directly through collisions, or, more likely, indirectly through increased scattering of smaller bodies such as asteroids or comets. Our simulations show that this instability occurs predominately between tens of Myr to a few Gyr of WD cooling. (Less)
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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, planet-star interactions, planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability, stars: AGB and post-AGB, stars: evolution, white dwarfs
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
431
issue
2
pages
1686 - 1708
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84876848023
ISSN
1365-2966
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stt289
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
8e8f0eb8-75eb-4cd6-9e87-4439ea808949 (old id 4500262)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:24:37
date last changed
2022-04-23 22:59:05
@article{8e8f0eb8-75eb-4cd6-9e87-4439ea808949,
  abstract     = {{Exoplanets have been observed at many stages of their host star's life, including the main-sequence (MS), subgiant and red giant branch stages. Also, polluted white dwarfs (WDs) likely represent dynamically active systems at late times. Here, we perform three-body simulations which include realistic post-MS stellar mass-loss and span the entire lifetime of exosystems with two massive planets, from the endpoint of formation to several Gyr into the WD phase of the host star. We find that both MS and WD systems experience ejections and star-planet collisions (Lagrange instability) even if the planet-planet separation well-exceeds the analytical orbit-crossing (Hill instability) boundary. Consequently, MS-stable planets do not need to be closely packed to experience instability during the WD phase. This instability may pollute the WD directly through collisions, or, more likely, indirectly through increased scattering of smaller bodies such as asteroids or comets. Our simulations show that this instability occurs predominately between tens of Myr to a few Gyr of WD cooling.}},
  author       = {{Veras, Dimitri and Mustill, Alexander and Bonsor, Amy and Wyatt, Mark C}},
  issn         = {{1365-2966}},
  keywords     = {{Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; planet-star interactions; planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability; stars: AGB and post-AGB; stars: evolution; white dwarfs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{1686--1708}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{Simulations of two-planet systems through all phases of stellar evolution: implications for the instability boundary and white dwarf pollution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt289}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stt289}},
  volume       = {{431}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}