The Influence of Tidal Heating on the Habitability of Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs

Becker, Juliette; Seligman, Darryl Z.; Adams, Fred C.; Styczinski, Marshall J.

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbe44

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Given the relatively large transit depth, searches have been proposed using the transit method that specifically target terrestrial planets in the HZ (Agol 2011). White dwarf HZ planets face additional challenges in maintaining long-term temperate surface conditions, such as the cooling of the star (Barnes & Heller 2013) and tidal effects (Becker et al 2023). These HZ planets were almost certainly not in the HZ during the MS or RGB/AGB phases of the progenitor, particularly given the mass loss that occurs during the AGB.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary Engulfment Prognosis within the ρ CrB System

Kane

2023

ApJ

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Exoplanets have been detected around stars at various stages of their lives, ranging from young stars emerging from formation to the latter stages of evolution, including white dwarfs and neutron stars. Post-main-sequence stellar evolution can result in dramatic, and occasionally traumatic, alterations to the planetary system architecture, such as tidal disruption of planets and engulfment by the host star. The ρ CrB system is a particularly interesting case of advanced main-sequence evolution, due to the relative late age and brightness of the host star, its similarity to solar properties, and the harboring of four known planets. Here, we use stellar evolution models to estimate the expected trajectory of the stellar properties of ρ CrB, especially over the coming 1.0–1.5 billion yr as it evolves off the main sequence. We show that the inner three planets (e, b, and c) are engulfed during the red giant phase and asymptotic giant branch, likely destroying those planets via either evaporation or tidal disruption at the fluid-body Roche limit. The outer planet, planet d, is briefly engulfed by the star several times toward the end of the asymptotic giant branch, but the stellar mass loss and subsequent changing planetary orbit may allow the survival of the planet into the white dwarf phase of the stellar evolution. We discuss the implications of this outcome for similar systems and describe the consequences for planets that may lie within the habitable zone of the system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary Engulfment Prognosis within the ρ CrB System

Kane

2023

ApJ

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“…27 erg s −1 should experience interior melting to some extent even if ( ˜) I k 100 2 . It is worth noting that the effective surface temperatures could be augmented by the tidal heating (Becker et al 2023). However, even in the most dramatic case in Figure 5, if Q ∼ 10 2 , the tidal heating is still comparable to the stellar heating.…”

Section: Exoplanets With Properties Amenable To Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Melting of Extrasolar Planets by Tidal Dissipation

Seligman,

Feinstein,

Lai

et al. 2024

ApJ

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Tidal heating on Io due to its finite eccentricity was predicted to drive surface volcanic activity, which was subsequently confirmed by the Voyager spacecraft. Although the volcanic activity in Io is more complex, in theory volcanism can be driven by runaway melting in which the tidal heating increases as the mantle thickness decreases. We show that this runaway melting mechanism is generic for a composite planetary body with liquid core and solid mantle, provided that (i) the mantle rigidity, μ, is comparable to the central pressure, i.e., μ/(ρ gR P) ≳ 0.1 for a body with density ρ, surface gravitational acceleration g, and radius R P; (ii) the surface is not molten; (iii) tides deposit sufficient energy; and (iv) the planet has nonzero eccentricity. We calculate the approximate liquid core radius as a function of μ/(ρ gR P), and find that more than 90% of the core will melt due to this runaway for μ/(ρ gR P) ≳ 1. From all currently confirmed exoplanets, we find that the terrestrial planets in the L 98-59 system are the most promising candidates for sustaining active volcanism. However, uncertainties regarding the quality factors and the details of tidal heating and cooling mechanisms prohibit definitive claims of volcanism on any of these planets. We generate synthetic transmission spectra of these planets assuming Venus-like atmospheric compositions with an additional 5%, 50%, and 98% SO2 component, which is a tracer of volcanic activity. We find a ≳3σ preference for a model with SO2 with 5–10 transits with JWST for L 98-59bcd.

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“…Even if the planetesimal remains outside of the Roche radius, it may be affected by star-planet tides from the white dwarf. These tides can create their own migration mechanism (without the presence of a disc) that depends on the physical properties of the planetesimal, in addition to its total mass (Veras et al 2019b;Veras & Fuller 2019;O'Connor & Lai 2020;Becker et al 2023). In particular, Fig.…”

Section: Stellar Tidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetesimals drifting through dusty and gaseous white dwarf debris discs: Types I, II and III-like migration

Veras

Ida

Grishin

et al. 2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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The suite of over 60 known planetary debris discs which orbit white dwarfs, along with detections of multiple minor planets in these systems, motivate investigations about the migration properties of planetesimals embedded within the discs. Here, we determine whether any of the migration regimes which are common in (pre-)main-sequence protoplanetary discs, debris discs and ring systems could be active and important in white dwarf discs. We investigate both dust-dominated and gas-dominated regions, and quantitatively demonstrate that Type I and Type II migration, as well as their particulate disc analogues, are too slow to be relevant in white dwarf discs. However, we find that the analogue of Type III migration for particulate discs may be rapid in the dusty regions of asteroid- or moon-generated (>1018 kg) white dwarf discs, where a planetesimal exterior to its Roche radius may migrate across the entire disc within its lifetime. This result holds over a wide range of disc boundaries, both within and exterior to 1R⊙, and such that the probability of migration occurring increases with higher disc masses.

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The Influence of Tidal Heating on the Habitability of Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs

Cited by 9 publications

References 82 publications

Planetary Engulfment Prognosis within the ρ CrB System

Planetary Engulfment Prognosis within the ρ CrB System

Potential Melting of Extrasolar Planets by Tidal Dissipation

Planetesimals drifting through dusty and gaseous white dwarf debris discs: Types I, II and III-like migration

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