The Interaction of Planets and Brown Dwarfs with AGB Stellar Winds

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution 3D hydrodynamical simulations to explore how planets and brown dwarfs interact with the stellar winds of AGB stars, revealing potential observable spiral patterns that inform on unseen companions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the morphology of stellar wind perturbations caused by substellar objects, highlighting the potential to detect unseen companions through spiral pattern observations.

Findings

Spiral density wakes depend on object mass, orbit, and velocity.

Simulations show how wind and sound velocities influence wake structure.

Future observations can constrain properties of low-mass companions.

Abstract

Beyond the main sequence solar type stars undergo extensive mass loss, providing an environment where planet and brown dwarf companions interact with the surrounding material. To examine the interaction of substellar mass objects embedded in the stellar wind of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star, three dimensional hydrodynamical simulations at high resolution have been calculated utilizing the FLASH adaptive mesh refinement code. Attention is focused on the perturbation of the substellar mass objects on the morphology of the outflowing circumstellar matter. In particular, we determine the properties of the resulting spiral density wake as a function of the mass, orbital distance, and velocity of the object as well as the wind velocity and its sound velocity. Our results suggest that future observations of the spiral pattern may place important constraints on the properties of the unseen low mass companion in the outflowing stellar wind.