Eating Planets for Lunch and Dinner: Signatures of Planet Consumption by Evolving Stars

Exoplanets have been observed around stars at all stages of stellar evolution, in many cases orbiting in configurations that will eventually lead to the planets being engulfed or consumed by their host stars, such as hot Jupiters or ultrashort period planets. Furthermore, objects such as polluted wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2020-01, Vol.889 (1), p.45
Main Authors: Stephan, Alexander P., Naoz, Smadar, Gaudi, B. Scott, Salas, Jesus M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Chemical composition
Collimation
Consumption
Extrasolar planets
Gas giant planets
Luminosity
Neutrons
Organic chemistry
Planet formation
Planetary evolution
Planetary nebulae
Planets
Red giant stars
Stars
Stellar evolution
Stellar mass
Stellar rotation
Tidal interaction
White dwarf stars
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Summary:Exoplanets have been observed around stars at all stages of stellar evolution, in many cases orbiting in configurations that will eventually lead to the planets being engulfed or consumed by their host stars, such as hot Jupiters or ultrashort period planets. Furthermore, objects such as polluted white dwarfs provide strong evidence that the consumption of planets by stars is a common phenomenon. This consumption causes several significant changes in the stellar properties, such as changes to the stellar spin, luminosity, chemical composition, or mass-loss processes. Here, we explore this wide variety of effects for a comprehensive range of stellar and planetary masses and stages of stellar evolution, from the main sequence over red giants to white dwarfs. We determine that planet consumption can cause transient luminosity features that last on the order of centuries to millennia, and that the post-consumption stellar spins can often reach breakup speeds. Furthermore, stellar mass loss can be caused by this spin-up, as well as through surface grazing interactions, leading to to the formation of unusual planetary nebula shapes or collimated stellar gas ejections. Our results highlight several observable stellar features by which the presence or previous existence of a planet around a given star can be deduced. This will provide future observational campaigns with the tools to better constrain exoplanet demographics, as well as planetary formation and evolution histories.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab5b00