Consequences of white dwarf recoil in stellar binaries and planetary systems
by
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/N6F-N601 - Meeting Room
Tsung-Dao Lee Institute
Host: Dong Lai
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Abstract:
Kinematic evidence suggests that white dwarfs (WDs), like neutron stars, receive velocity boosts at birth due to recoil from asymmetric mass loss. Recoiling WDs accelerate by ~1 km/s on a ~Myr timescale set by the poorly understood physics of AGB stellar winds. In this talk, I will explore the underappreciated, but readily observable, consequences of WD recoil in binaries and planetary systems. First, I will show that AGB mass loss leaves distinctive traces in the eccentricity distribution of wide binary stars, as probed by Gaia. This opens a path by which large kinematic datasets can constrain AGB wind physics. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, I also predict that recoil can induce high-eccentricity tidal interactions or mergers in initially wide (~100-1000 AU) binaries; this has implications for optical and infrared transient surveys, as well as for certain puzzles in stellar binary evolution. Second, I will show that WD recoil can readily destabilize multi-planet systems orbiting beyond the ice line. Using the Solar System's Jovian planets as a fiducial example, I explore the outcomes of recoil-induced planet-planet scattering around WDs. I summarize the implications of my findings for the origin of WD pollution and the hunt for WD exoplanets with direct imaging, astrometry, and microlensing.
Biography:
Education: Ph.D. Astronomy, Cornell University (2024); M.S. Astronomy, Cornell University (2020); B.S. Astrophysics, University of California, Los Angeles (2018)
Research Interests: Theoretical astrophysics, including astrophysical dynamics, stellar and planetary astrophysics, compact objects, dense star clusters, Milky Way Galactic Center. Observational exoplanet science, especially for systems around evolved stars and white dwarfs. Nonlinear dynamics and chaos, with applications to astrophysical systems.