Eating Planets for Lunch and Dinner: Signatures of Planet Consumption by Evolving Stars
Alexander P. Stephan, Smadar Naoz, B. Scott Gaudi, Jesus M. Salas

TL;DR
This paper investigates how the ingestion of planets by evolving stars affects stellar properties, revealing observable signatures like luminosity changes and spin-up that can inform exoplanet studies.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of planet consumption across various stellar stages, highlighting observable signatures and their implications for exoplanet demographics.
Findings
Planet consumption causes transient luminosity features lasting centuries to millennia.
Post-consumption stellar spins can reach break-up speeds.
Stellar mass loss and nebula shapes can result from planet ingestion.
Abstract
Exoplanets have been observed around stars at all stages of stellar evolution, in many cases orbiting in configurations that will eventually lead to the planets being engulfed or consumed by their host stars, such as Hot Jupiters or ultra-short period planets. Furthermore, objects such as polluted white dwarfs provide strong evidence that the consumption of planets by stars is a common phenomenon. This consumption causes several significant changes in the stellar properties, such as changes to the stellar spin, luminosity, chemical composition, or mass loss processes. Here, we explore this wide variety of effects for a comprehensive range of stellar and planetary masses and stages of stellar evolution, from the main sequence over red giants to the white dwarfs. We determine that planet consumption can cause transient luminosity features that last on the order of centuries to millennia,…
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