Orbital evolution under the action of fast interstellar gas flow with non-constant drag coefficient

TL;DR

This paper studies how interstellar gas flow affects the orbital evolution of dust particles, considering variable drag coefficients and showing that the semimajor axis decreases over time, with detailed analytical and numerical analysis.

Contribution

It provides a new analytical framework for orbital evolution under variable drag coefficients due to interstellar gas flow, extending previous models with constant drag.

Findings

Semimajor axis decreases over time under interstellar gas flow.

Variable drag coefficient results in slower orbital decay.

Orbit tends to align with maximal transversal gas flow component.

Abstract

The acceleration of a spherical dust particle caused by an interstellar gas flow depends on the drag coefficient which is, for the given particle and flow of interstellar gas, a specific function of the relative speed of the dust particle with respect to the interstellar gas. We investigate the motion of a dust particle in the case when the acceleration caused by the interstellar gas flow represent a small perturbation to the gravity of a central star. We present the secular time derivatives of the Keplerian orbital elements of the dust particle under the action of the acceleration from the interstellar gas flow for arbitrary orbit orientation. The semimajor axis of the dust particle is a decreasing function of time for an interstellar gas flow acceleration with constant drag coefficient and also for such an acceleration with the linearly variable drag coefficient. The decrease of the semimajor axis is slower for the interstellar gas flow acceleration with the variable drag coefficient. The minimal and maximal values of the decrease of the semimajor axis are determined. In the planar case, when the interstellar gas flow velocity lies in the orbital plane of the particle, the orbit always approaches the position with the maximal value of the transversal component of the interstellar gas flow velocity vector measured at perihelion. The properties of the orbital evolution derived from the secular time derivatives are consistent with numerical integrations of the equation of motion. If the interstellar gas flow speed is much larger than the speed of the dust particle, then the linear approximation of dependence of the drag coefficient on the relative speed of the dust particle with respect to the interstellar gas is usable for practically arbitrary (no close to zero) values of the molecular speed ratios (Mach numbers).