White Dwarf Systems: the Composition of Exoplanets

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Bonsor, Amy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Bonsor, Amy
author_facet Bonsor, Amy
contents We live in an exoplanet revolution, with more than 5,000 exoplanets detected to date. Our ability to characterise individual exoplanets is constantly improving, with exquisite mass and radius measurements for an ever-growing sample of planets, complimented by atmospheric characterisation of lower and lower mass planets. This chapter outlines a complimentary set of observations that uniquely provide bulk elemental compositions for exoplanetary material. Absorption features from metals, including Mg, Fe, Si, O, Ca, Al, Ni and Ti in the white dwarf photosphere characterise the composition of accreted planetary material. These observations highlight the diversity in composition across exoplanetary systems including volatile content and probe key geological processes including the formation of iron cores. Thanks to the many white dwarfs identified by the space satellite {\it Gaia}, a revolution in the spectroscopic characterisation of white dwarfs is underway.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_13294
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle White Dwarf Systems: the Composition of Exoplanets
Bonsor, Amy
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
We live in an exoplanet revolution, with more than 5,000 exoplanets detected to date. Our ability to characterise individual exoplanets is constantly improving, with exquisite mass and radius measurements for an ever-growing sample of planets, complimented by atmospheric characterisation of lower and lower mass planets. This chapter outlines a complimentary set of observations that uniquely provide bulk elemental compositions for exoplanetary material. Absorption features from metals, including Mg, Fe, Si, O, Ca, Al, Ni and Ti in the white dwarf photosphere characterise the composition of accreted planetary material. These observations highlight the diversity in composition across exoplanetary systems including volatile content and probe key geological processes including the formation of iron cores. Thanks to the many white dwarfs identified by the space satellite {\it Gaia}, a revolution in the spectroscopic characterisation of white dwarfs is underway.
title White Dwarf Systems: the Composition of Exoplanets
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.13294