Metal-rich debris discs around white dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of gaseous, metal-rich debris discs around white dwarfs, indicating that planetary material can survive stellar evolution and form circumstellar rings.

Contribution

It provides the first clear evidence of gaseous debris discs around white dwarfs with detailed spectroscopic signatures and discusses their implications for planetary system survival.

Findings

Detection of double-peaked CaII emission lines indicating gaseous discs

Discs are depleted in volatile elements, suggesting rocky asteroid origin

Planetary systems can survive post-main-sequence stellar evolution

Abstract

We have identified two moderately hot (~18000-22000K) white dwarfs, SDSSJ1228+1040 and SDSSJ1043+0855, which exhibit double-peaked emission lines in the CaII 8600A triplet. These line profiles are unambiguous signatures of gaseous discs with outer radii of ~1Rsun orbiting the two white dwarfs. Both stars accrete from the circumstellar material, resulting in large photospheric Mg abundances. The absence of hydrogen emission from the discs, and helium absorption in the white dwarf photospheres demonstrates that the circumstellar material is depleted in volatile elements, and the most likely origin of these gaseous rings are tidally disrupted rocky asteroids. The relatively high mass of SDSSJ1228+1040 implies that planetary systems can not only form around 4-5Msun stars, but may also survive their post main-sequence evolution.