Engineering topics

Valsecchi, Francesca

Publications and source records attributed to Valsecchi, Francesca.

7 records

DOE OSTI2015

TIDALLY DRIVEN ROCHE-LOBE OVERFLOW OF HOT JUPITERS WITH MESA

Many exoplanets have now been detected in orbits with ultra-short periods very close to the Roche limit. Building upon our previous work, we study the possibility that mass loss through Roche lobe overflow (RLO) may affect the evolution of these planets, and could possibly transform a hot Jupiter into a lower-mass planet (hot Neptune or super-Earth). We focus here on systems in which the mass loss occurs slowly (“stable mass transfer” in the language of binary star evolution) and we compute their evolution in detail with the binary evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics. We include the effects of tides, RLO, irradiation, and photo-evaporation (PE) of the planet, as well as the stellar wind and magnetic braking. Our calculations all start with a hot Jupiter close to its Roche limit, in orbit around a Sun-like star. The initial orbital decay and onset of RLO are driven by tidal dissipation in the star. We confirm that such a system can indeed evolve to produce lower-mass planets in orbits of a few days. The RLO phase eventually ends and, depending on the details of the mass transfer and on the planetary core mass, the orbital period can remain around a few days for several Gyr. The remnant planets have rocky cores and some amount of envelope material, which is slowly removed via PE at a nearly constant orbital period; these have properties resembling many of the observed super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. For these remnant planets, we also predict an anti-correlation between mass and orbital period; very low-mass planets (M{sub pl} ≲ 5 M{sub ⊕}) in ultra-short periods (P{sub orb} < 1 day) cannot be produced through this type of evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The dynamics of the multi-planet system orbiting Kepler-56

Kepler-56 is a multi-planet system containing two coplanar inner planets that are in orbits misaligned with respect to the spin axis of the host star, and an outer planet. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the broad distribution of spin-orbit angles among exoplanets, and these theories fall under two broad categories. The first is based on dynamical interactions in a multi-body system, while the other assumes that disk migration is the driving mechanism in planetary configuration and that the star (or disk) is titled with respect to the planetary plane. Here we show that the large observed obliquity of Kepler 56 system is consistent with a dynamical origin. In addition, we use observations by Huber et al. to derive the obliquity's probability distribution function, thus improving the constrained lower limit. The outer planet may be the cause of the inner planets' large obliquities, and we give the probability distribution function of its inclination, which depends on the initial orbital configuration of the planetary system. We show that even in the presence of precise measurement of the true obliquity, one cannot distinguish the initial configurations. Finally we consider the fate of the system as the star continues to evolve beyond the main sequence, and we find that the obliquity of the system will not undergo major variations as the star climbs the red giant branch. We follow the evolution of the system and find that the innermost planet will be engulfed in ∼129 Myr. Furthermore we put an upper limit of ∼155 Myr for the engulfment of the second planet. This corresponds to ∼3% of the current age of the star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

FROM HOT JUPITERS TO SUPER-EARTHS VIA ROCHE LOBE OVERFLOW

Through tidal dissipation in a slowly spinning host star, the orbits of many hot Jupiters may decay down to the Roche limit. We expect that the ensuing mass transfer will be stable in most cases. Using detailed numerical calculations, we find that this evolution is quite rapid, potentially leading to the complete removal of the gaseous envelope in a few gigayears, and leaving behind an exposed rocky core (a {sup h}ot super-Earth{sup )}. Final orbital periods are quite sensitive to the details of the planet's mass-radius relation and to the effects of irradiation and photo-evaporation, but could be as short as a few hours or as long as several days. Our scenario predicts the existence of planets with intermediate masses ({sup h}ot Neptunes{sup )} that should be found precisely at their Roche limit and in the process of losing mass through Roche lobe overflow. The observed excess of small single-planet candidate systems observed by Kepler may also be the result of this process. If so, the properties of their host stars should track those of the hot Jupiters. Moreover, the number of systems that produced hot Jupiters could be two to three times larger than one would infer from contemporary observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Understanding compact object formation and natal kicks. IV. The case of IC 10 X-1

The extragalactic X-ray binary IC 10 X-1 has attracted attention as it is possibly the host of the most massive stellar-mass black-hole (BH) known to date. Here we consider all available observational constraints and construct its evolutionary history up to the instant just before the formation of the BH. Our analysis accounts for the simplest possible history, which includes three evolutionary phases: binary orbital dynamics at core collapse, common envelope (CE) evolution, and evolution of the BH-helium star binary progenitor of the observed system. We derive the complete set of constraints on the progenitor system at various evolutionary stages. Specifically, right before the core collapse event, we find the mass of the BH immediate progenitor to be ≳ 31 M{sub ☉} (at 95% of confidence, same hereafter). The magnitude of the natal kick imparted to the BH is constrained to be ≲ 130 km s{sup –1}. Furthermore, we find that the 'enthalpy' formalism recently suggested by Ivanova and Chaichenets is able to explain the existence of IC 10 X-1 without the need to invoke unreasonably high CE efficiencies. With this physically motivated formalism, we find that the CE efficiency required to explain the system is in the range of ≅ 0.6-1.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

PLANETS ON THE EDGE

Hot Jupiters formed through circularization of high-eccentricity orbits should be found at orbital separations a exceeding twice that of their Roche limit a {sub R}. Nevertheless, about a dozen giant planets have now been found well within this limit (a {sub R} < a < 2 a {sub R}), with one coming as close as 1.2 a {sub R}. In this Letter, we show that orbital decay (starting beyond 2 a {sub R}) driven by tidal dissipation in the star can naturally explain these objects. For a few systems (WASP-4 and 19), this explanation requires the linear reduction in convective tidal dissipation proposed originally by Zahn and verified by recent numerical simulations, but rules out the quadratic prescription proposed by Goldreich and Nicholson. Additionally, we find that WASP-19-like systems could potentially provide direct empirical constraints on tidal dissipation, as we could soon be able to measure their orbital decay through high precision transit timing measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Tidal dissipation and obliquity evolution in hot Jupiter systems

Two formation scenarios have been proposed to explain the tight orbits of hot Jupiters. They could be formed in orbits with a small inclination (with respect to the stellar spin) via disk migration, or in more highly inclined orbits via high-eccentricity migration, where gravitational interactions with a companion and tidal dissipation are at play. Here we target hot Jupiter systems where the misalignment λ has been inferred observationally and we investigate whether their properties are consistent with high-eccentricity migration. Specifically, we study whether stellar tides can be responsible for the observed distribution of λ and orbital separations. Improving on previous studies, we use detailed models for each star, thus accounting for how convection (and tidal dissipation) depends on stellar properties. In line with observations suggesting that hotter stars have higher λ, we find that λ increases as the amount of stellar surface convection decreases. This trend supports the hypothesis that tides are the mechanism shaping the observed distribution of λ. Furthermore, we study the past orbital evolution of five representative systems, chosen to cover a variety of temperatures and misalignments. We consider various initial orbital configurations and integrate the equations describing the coupled evolution of the orbital separation, stellar spin, and misalignment. We account for stellar tides and wind mass loss, stellar evolution, and magnetic braking. We show that the current properties of these five representative systems can be explained naturally, given our current understanding of tidal dissipation and with physically motivated assumptions for the effects driving the orbital evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

UNDERSTANDING COMPACT OBJECT FORMATION AND NATAL KICKS. III. THE CASE OF CYGNUS X-1

In recent years, accurate observational constraints have become available for an increasing number of Galactic X-ray binaries (XRBs). Together with proper-motion measurements, we could reconstruct the full evolutionary history of XRBs back to the time of compact object formation. In this paper, we present the first study of the persistent X-ray source Cygnus X-1 that takes into account all available observational constraints. Our analysis accounts for three evolutionary phases: orbital evolution and motion through the Galactic potential after the formation of a black hole (BH), and binary orbital dynamics at the time of core collapse. We find that the mass of the BH immediate progenitor is 15.0-20.0 M{sub Sun }, and at the time of core collapse, the BH has potentially received a small kick velocity of {<=}77 km s{sup -1} at 95% confidence. If the BH progenitor mass is less than {approx}17 M{sub Sun }, a non-zero natal kick velocity is required to explain the currently observed properties of Cygnus X-1. Since the BH has only accreted mass from its companion's stellar wind, the negligible amount of accreted mass does not explain the observationally inferred BH spin of a{sub *} > 0.95, and the origin of this extreme BH spin must be connected to the BH formation itself. Right after the BH formation, we find that the BH companion is a 19.8-22.6 M{sub Sun} main-sequence star, orbiting the BH at a period of 4.7-5.2 days. Furthermore, recent observations show that the BH companion is currently super-synchronized. This super-synchronism indicates that the strength of tides exerted on the BH companion should be weaker by a factor of at least two compared to the usually adopted strength.

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