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New research from the University of Warwick revealed that small, robust planets filled with dense elements had the best chance of avoiding being crushed and swallowed by the death of their host .
Astronomy and Astrophysics astrophysicists have modeled the chances of tidal forces destroying different planets when their host stars turn into white dwarfs and have determined the most significant factors for their decision to avoid them or not. destroy.
Their "survival guide" for exoplanets could help astronomers locate potential exoplanets around white dwarf stars, while a new generation of even more powerful telescopes is being developed to search for them. Their research is published in the Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society.
Most stars like our Sun will soon run out of fuel, shrink and become white dwarfs. Some bodies in orbit that are not destroyed in the vortex caused by the star's detachment from its outer layers will then be subject to variations in tidal forces as the star collapses and becomes super dense. Gravitational forces on all the planets in orbit would be intense and could lead them into new orbits, or even push them further into their solar system.
By modeling the effects of the gravity shift of a white dwarf on rocky bodies in orbit, the researchers determined the factors most likely to cause the displacement of a planet in the "radius of destruction" of the planet. # 39; star; the distance from the star where an object bound only by its own gravity will disintegrate under the effect of tidal forces. In the radius of destruction, a disc of debris from destroyed planets will form.
Although the survival of a planet depends on many factors, the models reveal that the larger the planet, the more likely it will be destroyed by tidal interactions.
But the destruction is not assured by the mass alone: the exo-earthy low-viscosity soils are easily swallowed, even if they reside at separation distances of less than five times the distance between the center of the white dwarf and its radius of destruction. The moon of Saturn, Enceladus – often described as a "dirty snowball" – is a good example of a homogeneous planet of very low viscosity.
High-viscosity exo-soils are easily swallowed only if they reside at distances equal to twice the distance between the center of the white dwarf and its radius of destruction. These planets would be entirely composed of a dense nucleus of heavier elements, whose composition would be similar to that of the planet "heavy metal" discovered recently by another team of astronomers of the University of Warwick. This planet has avoided being swallowed because it is as small as an asteroid.
Dr. Dimitri Veras, of the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, said, "This paper is one of the very first studies devoted to studying the effects of tides between white dwarfs and planets.This type of modeling will become more and more relevant in the coming years.rock bodies are likely to be discovered near white dwarfs. "
"Our study, although sophisticated in many respects, deals only with homogeneous rocky planets that are coherent in structure.A multilayered planet, like the Earth, would be much more complicated to compute, but we are studying the possibility of doing so." "
The distance of the star, like the mass of the planet, has a strong correlation with survival or engulfment. There will always be a safety distance from the star and this safety distance depends on many parameters. In general, a homogeneous rocky planet at a location in the white dwarf that is more than a third of the distance between Mercury and the Sun is guaranteed not to be swallowed by tidal forces.
Dr. Veras said, "Our study invites astronomers to search for rocky planets close to the destruction radius of the white dwarf, but just outside them." are concentrated on this inner region, but our study demonstrates that rocky planets can survive tidal interactions with the white dwarf in a way that pushes the planets slightly outward.
"Astronomers should also look for geometric signatures on known debris disks, which could be the result of gravitational disturbances from a planet just outside the radius of destruction. formed earlier by the grinding of asteroids that approach periodically and enter the destruction radius of the white dwarf ".
The research has received support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
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Material provided by University of Warwick. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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