2021/05/03 by David Trevascus, Daniel J. Price, Rebecca Nealon +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Asteroid #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Eccentric #Eccentricity (behavior) #Infrared excess #Orbit (dynamics) #Orbital eccentricity #Physics #Planet #Smoothed-particle hydrodynamics #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #White dwarf #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slab043
5 pages, 5 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letters
arxiv created 2021/05/03 · openalex publication_date 2021/05/03 · arxiv updated 2021/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
ABSTRACT Of the 21 known gaseous debris discs around white dwarfs, a large fraction of them display observational features that are well described by an eccentric distribution of gas. In the absence of embedded objects or additional forces, these discs should not remain eccentric for long time-scales, and should instead circularize due to viscous spreading. The metal pollution and infrared excess we observe from these stars is consistent with the presence of tidally disrupted sub-stellar bodies. We demonstrate, using smoothed particle hydrodynamics, that a sublimating or partially disrupting planet on an eccentric orbit around a white dwarf will form and maintain a gas disc with an eccentricity within 0.1 of, and lower than, that of the orbiting body. We also demonstrate that the eccentric gas disc observed around the white dwarf SDSS J1228 + 1040 can be explained by the same hypothesis.