A Reassessment of Families of Solutions to the Puzzle of Boyajian's Star

TL;DR

This paper reevaluates various hypotheses explaining Boyajian's Star's unusual behavior, considering new observational and theoretical developments to update the plausibility of different solutions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive reassessment of previous solution families, incorporating recent data and theories to refine their plausibility.

Findings

Intrinsic variation remains plausible

Intervening ISM or circum-black hole material are less likely

Circumstellar material like exocomets remains a viable explanation

Abstract

Wright & Sigurdsson (2016) described several families of plausible solutions to the puzzle of Boyajian's Star (Boyajian et al. 2016), and ranked some of them by their subjective plausibility. Since then, theoretical and observational work have altered many families' plausibility, and so in this Research Note I reassess them, including the possibilities of intrinsic variation, intervening ISM or circum-black hole material, and circumstellar material such as exocomets.