The gaseous debris disk of the white dwarf SDSS J1228+1040. HST/COS search for far-ultraviolet signatures

TL;DR

This study used HST/COS to analyze the far-ultraviolet spectrum of the white dwarf SDSS J1228+1040, searching for gaseous debris disk signatures and constraining its temperature, composition, and geometry.

Contribution

First FUV spectral analysis of this white dwarf's debris disk, revealing no emission lines and supporting a precessing, Earth-like composition disk model.

Findings

No disk emission-lines detected in FUV spectrum.

Disk effective temperature estimated at about 5000K.

Disk precesses with a period of approximately 37 years.

Abstract

Gaseous and dust debris disks around white dwarfs (WDs) are formed from tidally disrupted planetary bodies. This offers an opportunity to determine the composition of exoplanetary material by measuring element abundances in the accreting WD's atmosphere. A more direct way to do this is through spectral analysis of the disks themselves. Currently, the number of chemical elements detected through disk emission-lines is smaller than that of species detected through lines in the WD atmospheres. We assess the far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectrum of one well-studied object (SDSS J122859.93+104032.9) to search for disk signatures at wavelengths <1050 angstrom, where the broad absorption lines of the Lyman series effectively block the WD photospheric flux. We performed FUV observations (950-1240 angstrom) with the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and used archival optical spectra. We compared them with non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model spectra. In addition, we investigate the Ca II infrared triplet (IRT) line profiles to constrain disk geometry and composition. No disk emission-lines were detected in the FUV spectrum, indicating that the disk effective temperature is about 5000K. The long-time variability of the Ca II IRT was reproduced with a precessing disk model of bulk Earth-like composition, having a surface mass density of 0.3g/cm2 and an extension from 55 to 90 WD radii. The disk has a spiral shape that precesses with a period of approximately 37 years, confirming previous results.