scholarly journals The impact of tidal friction evolution on the orbital decay of ultra-short period planets

Author(s):  
Jaime A Alvarado-Montes ◽  
Mario Sucerquia ◽  
Carolina García-Carmona ◽  
Jorge I Zuluaga ◽  
Lee Spitler ◽  
...  

Abstract Unveiling the fate of ultra-short period (USP) planets may help us understand the qualitative agreement between tidal theory and the observed exoplanet distribution. Nevertheless, due to the time-varying interchange of spin-orbit angular momentum in star-planet systems, the expected amount of tidal friction is unknown and depends on the dissipative properties of stellar and planetary interiors. In this work, we couple structural changes in the star and the planet resulting from the energy released per tidal cycle and simulate the orbital evolution of USP planets and the spin-up produced on their host star. For the first time, we allow the strength of magnetic braking to vary within a model that includes photo-evaporation, drag caused by the stellar wind, stellar mass loss, and stellar wind enhancement due to the in-falling USP planet. We apply our model to the two exoplanets with the shortest periods known to date, NGTS-10b and WASP-19b. We predict they will undergo orbital decay in time-scales that depend on the evolution of the tidal dissipation reservoir inside the star, as well as the contribution of the stellar convective envelope to the transfer of angular momentum. Contrary to previous work, which predicted mid-transit time shifts of ∼30 − 190 s over 10 years, we found that such changes would be smaller than 10 s. We note this is sensitive to the assumptions about the dissipative properties of the system. Our results have important implications for the search for observational evidence of orbital decay in USP planets, using present and future observational campaigns.

1976 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 209-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter P. Eggleton

A two-stage mechanism is proposed whereby detached dwarf systems like V471 Tau may evolve into cataclysmic binaries. The two stages are (1) angular momentum loss from the secondary due to braking by a stellar wind linked with magnetic fields, and (2) angular momentum gain by the secondary from the orbital motion, due to tidal friction. This combination may be able to remove angular momentum from short-period binaries on a timescale of ~109 yr.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S354) ◽  
pp. 195-199
Author(s):  
A. Astoul ◽  
S. Mathis ◽  
C. Baruteau ◽  
F. Gallet ◽  
A. Strugarek ◽  
...  

AbstractFor the shortest period exoplanets, star-planet tidal interactions are likely to have played a major role in the ultimate orbital evolution of the planets and on the spin evolution of the host stars. Although low-mass stars are magnetically active objects, the question of how the star’s magnetic field impacts the excitation, propagation and dissipation of tidal waves remains open. We have derived the magnetic contribution to the tidal interaction and estimated its amplitude throughout the structural and rotational evolution of low-mass stars (from K to F-type). We find that the star’s magnetic field has little influence on the excitation of tidal waves in nearly circular and coplanar Hot-Jupiter systems, but that it has a major impact on the way waves are dissipated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
pp. A120
Author(s):  
F. Gallet ◽  
P. Delorme

Context. Age estimation techniques such as gyrochronology and magnetochronology cannot be applied to stars that have exchanged angular momentum with their close environments. This is especially true for a massive close-in planetary companion (with a period of a few days or less) that could have been strongly impacted by the rotational evolution of the host star, throughout the stellar evolution, through the star-planet tidal interaction. Aims. In this article, we provide the community with a reliable region in which empirical techniques such as gyrochronology can be used with confidence. Methods. We combined a stellar angular momentum evolution code with a planetary orbital evolution code to study in detail the impact of star-planet tidal interaction on the evolution of the surface rotation rate of the star. Results. We show that the interaction of a close-in massive planet with its host star can strongly modify the surface rotation rate of this latter, in most of the cases associated with a planetary engulfment. A modification of the surface rotation period of more than 90% can survive a few hundred Myr after the event and a modification of 10% can last for a few Gyr. In such cases, a gyrochronology analysis of the star would incorrectly make it appear as rejuvenated, thus preventing us from using this method with confidence. To try overcome this issue, we proposed the proof of concept of a new age determination technique that we call the tidal-chronology method, which is based on the observed pair Prot, ⋆–Porb of a given star-planet system, where Prot, ⋆ is the stellar surface rotational period and Porb the planetary orbital period. Conclusions. The gyrochronology technique can only be applied to isolated stars or star-planet systems outside a specific range of Prot, ⋆–Porb. This region tends to expand for increasing stellar and planetary mass. In that forbidden region, or if any planetary engulfment is suspected, gyrochronology should be used with extreme caution, while tidal-chronology could be considered. This technique does not provide a precise age for the system yet; however, it is already an extension of gyrochronology and could be helpful to determine a more precise range of possible ages for planetary systems composed of a star between 0.3 and 1.2 M⊙ and a planet more massive than 1 Mjup initially located at a few hundredths of au from the host star.


2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A111 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Astoul ◽  
S. Mathis ◽  
C. Baruteau ◽  
F. Gallet ◽  
A. Strugarek ◽  
...  

Context. The dissipation of the kinetic energy of wave-like tidal flows within the convective envelope of low-mass stars is one of the key physical mechanisms that shapes the orbital and rotational dynamics of short-period exoplanetary systems. Although low-mass stars are magnetically active objects, the question of how the star’s magnetic field impacts large-scale tidal flows and the excitation, propagation and dissipation of tidal waves still remains open. Aims. Our goal is to investigate the impact of stellar magnetism on the forcing of tidal waves, and their propagation and dissipation in the convective envelope of low-mass stars as they evolve. Methods. We have estimated the amplitude of the magnetic contribution to the forcing and dissipation of tidally induced magneto-inertial waves throughout the structural and rotational evolution of low-mass stars (from M to F-type). For this purpose, we have used detailed grids of rotating stellar models computed with the stellar evolution code STAREVOL. The amplitude of dynamo-generated magnetic fields is estimated via physical scaling laws at the base and the top of the convective envelope. Results. We find that the large-scale magnetic field of the star has little influence on the excitation of tidal waves in the case of nearly-circular orbits and coplanar hot-Jupiter planetary systems, but that it has a major impact on the way waves are dissipated. Our results therefore indicate that a full magneto-hydrodynamical treatment of the propagation and dissipation of tidal waves is needed to properly assess the impact of star-planet tidal interactions throughout the evolutionary history of low-mass stars hosting short-period massive planets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 621 ◽  
pp. A124 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Benbakoura ◽  
V. Réville ◽  
A. S. Brun ◽  
C. Le Poncin-Lafitte ◽  
S. Mathis

Context.With the discovery over the last two decades of a large diversity of exoplanetary systems, it is now of prime importance to characterize star–planet interactions and how such systems evolve.Aims.We address this question by studying systems formed by a solar-like star and a close-in planet. We focus on the stellar wind spinning down the star along its main-sequence phase and tidal interaction causing orbital evolution of the systems. Despite recent significant advances in these fields, all current models use parametric descriptions to study at least one of these effects. Our objective is to introduce ab initio prescriptions of the tidal and braking torques simultaneously, so as to improve our understanding of the underlying physics.Methods.We develop a one-dimensional (1D) numerical model of coplanar circular star–planet systems taking into account stellar structural changes, wind braking, and tidal interaction and implement it in a code called ESPEM. We follow the secular evolution of the stellar rotation and of the semi-major axis of the orbit, assuming a bilayer internal structure for the former. After comparing our predictions to recent observations and models, we perform tests to emphasize the contribution of ab initio prescriptions. Finally, we isolate four significant characteristics of star–planet systems: stellar mass, initial stellar rotation period, planetary mass and initial semi-major axis; and browse the parameter space to investigate the influence of each of them on the fate of the system.Results.Our secular model of stellar wind braking accurately reproduces the recent observations of stellar rotation in open clusters. Our results show that a planet can affect the rotation of its host star and that the resulting spin-up or spin-down depends on the orbital semi-major axis and on the joint influence of magnetic and tidal effects. The ab initio prescription for tidal dissipation that we used predicts fast outward migration of massive planets orbiting fast-rotating young stars. Finally, we provide the reader with a criterion based on the characteristics of the system that allows us to assess whether or not the planet will undergo orbital decay due to tidal interaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 486 (3) ◽  
pp. 3963-3974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime A Alvarado-Montes ◽  
Carolina García-Carmona

Abstract The discovery of many giant planets in close-in orbits and the effect of planetary and stellar tides in their subsequent orbital decay have been extensively studied in the context of planetary formation and evolution theories. Planets orbiting close to their host stars undergo close encounters, atmospheric photoevaporation, orbital evolution, and tidal interactions. In many of these theoretical studies, it is assumed that the interior properties of gas giants remain static during orbital evolution. Here, we present a model that allows for changes in the planetary radius as well as variations in the planetary and stellar dissipation parameters, caused by the planet’s contraction and change of rotational rates from the strong tidal fields. In this semi-analytical model, giant planets experience a much slower tidal-induced circularization compared to models that do not consider these instantaneous changes. We predict that the eccentricity damping time-scale increases about an order of magnitude in the most extreme case for too inflated planets, large eccentricities, and when the planet’s tidal properties are calculated according to its interior structural composition. This finding potentially has significant implications on interpreting the period–eccentricity distribution of known giant planets as it may naturally explain the large number of non-circularized, close period currently known. Additionally, this work may help to constrain some models of planetary interiors, and contribute to a better insight about how tides affect the orbital evolution of extrasolar systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 641 ◽  
pp. A64 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Heath ◽  
C. J. Nixon

Circumbinary discs are generally thought to take up angular momentum and energy from the binary orbit over time through gravitational torques that are mediated by orbital resonances. This process leads to the shrinkage of the binary orbit over time, and it is important in a variety of astrophysical contexts including the orbital evolution of stellar binaries, the migration of planets in protoplanetary discs, and the evolution of black hole binaries (stellar and supermassive). The merger of compact object binaries provides a source of gravitational waves in the Universe. Recently, several groups have reported numerical simulations of circumbinary discs that yield the opposite result, finding that the binary expands with time. Here we argue that this result is primarily due to the choice of simulation parameters, made for numerical reasons, which differ from realistic disc parameters in many cases. We provide physical arguments, and then demonstrate with 3D hydrodynamical simulations, that thick (high pressure, high viscosity) discs drive sufficient accretion of high angular momentum material to force binary expansion, while in the more realistic case of thin (low pressure, low viscosity) discs there is less accretion and the binary shrinks. In the latter case, tides, which generally transfer angular momentum and energy from the more rapidly rotating object (the binary) to the less rapidly rotating object (the disc), are the dominant driver of disc-binary evolution. This causes the binary to shrink. We therefore conclude that for common circumbinary disc parameters, binaries with non-extreme mass ratios are expected to shrink over time. Expansion of the binary can occur if the disc viscosity is unusually high, which may occur in the very thick discs encountered in, for example, circumplanetary discs, super-Eddington AGN, or the outer regions of passive protostellar discs that are heated by the central protostar. We also provide discussion of the impact that some simplifications to the problem, that are prevalent in the literature and usually made for numerical convenience, have on the disc-binary evolution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. I. Saladino ◽  
O. R. Pols ◽  
E. van der Helm ◽  
I. Pelupessy ◽  
S. Portegies Zwart

In low-mass binary systems, mass transfer is likely to occur via a slow and dense stellar wind when one of the stars is in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase. Observations show that many binaries that have undergone AGB mass transfer have orbital periods of 1–10 yr, at odds with the predictions of binary population synthesis models. In this paper we investigate the mass-accretion efficiency and angular-momentum loss via wind mass transfer in AGB binary systems and we use these quantities to predict the evolution of the orbit. To do so, we perform 3D hydrodynamical simulations of the stellar wind lost by an AGB star in the time-dependent gravitational potential of a binary system, using the AMUSE framework. We approximate the thermal evolution of the gas by imposing a simple effective cooling balance and we vary the orbital separation and the velocity of the stellar wind. We find that for wind velocities higher than the relative orbital velocity of the system the flow is described by the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton approximation and the angular-momentum loss is modest, which leads to an expansion of the orbit. On the other hand, for low wind velocities an accretion disk is formed around the companion and the accretion efficiency as well as the angular-momentum loss are enhanced, implying that the orbit will shrink. We find that the transfer of angular momentum from the binary orbit to the outflowing gas occurs within a few orbital separations from the centre of mass of the binary. Our results suggest that the orbital evolution of AGB binaries can be predicted as a function of the ratio of the terminal wind velocity to the relative orbital velocity of the system, v∞/vorb. Our results can provide insight into the puzzling orbital periods of post-AGB binaries. The results also suggest that the number of stars entering into the common-envelope phase will increase, which can have significant implications for the expected formation rates of the end products of low-mass binary evolution, such as cataclysmic binaries, type Ia supernovae, and double white-dwarf mergers.


1983 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 391-392
Author(s):  
G. Giuricin ◽  
S. Catalano ◽  
F. Mardirossian ◽  
M. Mezzetti

ABSTRACTOur study of the period distribution of about 200 FGKM-type unevolved close binaries has revealed a strong deficit of short-period systems.This finding may be connected with the occurrence of a very efficient mechanism of orbital angular momentum loss via magnetic braking by stellar wind, in the earliest evolutionary phases.


2017 ◽  
Vol 604 ◽  
pp. A113 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Bolmont ◽  
F. Gallet ◽  
S. Mathis ◽  
C. Charbonnel ◽  
L. Amard ◽  
...  

Observations of hot-Jupiter exoplanets suggest that their orbital period distribution depends on the metallicity of the host stars. We investigate here whether the impact of the stellar metallicity on the evolution of the tidal dissipation inside the convective envelope of rotating stars and its resulting effect on the planetary migration might be a possible explanation for this observed statistical trend. We use a frequency-averaged tidal dissipation formalism coupled to an orbital evolution code and to rotating stellar evolution models in order to estimate the effect of a change of stellar metallicity on the evolution of close-in planets. We consider here two different stellar masses: 0.4 M⊙ and 1.0 M⊙ evolving from the early pre-main sequence phase up to the red-giant branch. We show that the metallicity of a star has a strong effect on the stellar parameters, which in turn strongly influence the tidal dissipation in the convective region. While on the pre-main sequence, the dissipation of a metal-poor Sun-like star is higher than the dissipation of a metal-rich Sun-like star; on the main sequence it is the opposite. However, for the 0.4 M⊙ star, the dependence of the dissipation with metallicity is much less visible. Using an orbital evolution model, we show that changing the metallicity leads to different orbital evolutions (e.g., planets migrate farther out from an initially fast-rotating metal-rich star). Using this model, we qualitatively reproduced the observational trends of the population of hot Jupiters with the metallicity of their host stars. However, more steps are needed to improve our model to try to quantitatively fit our results to the observations. Specifically, we need to improve the treatment of the rotation evolution in the orbital evolution model, and ultimately we need to consistently couple the orbital model to the stellar evolution model.


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