2024/01/10 by H Chen, Chen, Huiling, Yang Huang +24 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.05120
openalex publication_date 2024/01/10 · openalex created_date 2024/01/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A recent study by Hon et al. reported that a close-in planet around the red clump star, 8 UMi, should have been engulfed during the expansion phase of its parent star's evolution. They explained the survival of this exoplanet through a binary-merger channel for 8 UMi. The key to testing this formation scenario is to derive the true age of this star: is it an old "imposter" resulting from a binary merger, or a genuinely young red clump giant? To accomplish this, we derive kinematic and chemical properties for 8 UMi using astrometric data from \it Gaia DR3 and the element-abundance pattern measured from a high-resolution (R ∼ 75,000) spectrum taken by SOPHIE. Our analysis shows that 8 UMi is a normal thin-disk star with orbital rotation speed of \itV_\mathrmϕ=\mathrm244.96 km s-1, and possesses a Solar metallicity ([Fe/H] = -0.05 ± 0.07) and α-element abundance ratio ([α/Fe] = +0.01 ± 0.03). By adopting well-established relationships between age and space velocities/elemental abundances, we estimate a kinematic age of 3.50+3.00-2.00 Gyr, and a chemical age of 3.25+2.50-1.50 Gyr from [C/N] and 3.47 ± 1.96 Gyr from [Y/Mg] for 8 UMi, respectively. These estimates are consistent with the isochrone-fitting age (1.90+1.15-0.30 Gyr) of 8 UMi, but are all much younger than the timescale required in a binary-merger scenario. This result challenges the binary-merger model; the existence of such a closely orbiting exoplanet around a giant star remains a mystery yet to be resolved.