2021/04/30 by G Guidarelli, Gabriel Guidarelli, Jason Nordhaus +6 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Asymptotic giant branch #Brown dwarf #Common envelope #Giant planet #Physics #Planet #Planetary system #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #White dwarf #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stac463
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 511(4), 5994-6000 (Oxford University Press) · Submitted to MNRAS
arxiv created 2021/04/30 · openalex publication_date 2022/03/04 · arxiv updated 2022/03/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
A significant fraction of isolated white dwarfs host magnetic fields in excess of a MegaGauss. Observations suggest that these fields originate in interacting binary systems where the companion is destroyed thus leaving a singular, highly-magnetized white dwarf. In post-main-sequence evolution, radial expansion of the parent star may cause orbiting companions to become engulfed. During the common envelope phase, as the orbital separation rapidly decreases, low-mass companions will tidally disrupt as they approach the giant's core. We hydrodynamically simulate the tidal disruption of planets and brown dwarfs, and the subsequent accretion disc formation, in the interior of an asymptotic giant branch star. These dynamically formed discs are commensurate with previous estimates, suggesting strong magnetic fields may originate from these tidal disruption events.