The Search for Planet and Planetesimal Transits of White Dwarfs with the Zwicky Transient Facility

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the Zwicky Transient Facility's extensive, rapid photometric survey can detect transiting exoplanets and planetesimals around white dwarf stars, revealing planetary system remnants.

Contribution

It presents a strategy for using ZTF data to discover transiting planets and planetesimals around white dwarfs, leveraging a large-scale, high-cadence survey.

Findings

ZTF can record the first exoplanetary transits of white dwarfs.

Potential to discover new systems of transiting, disintegrating planetesimals.

Survey strategy maximizes detection chances despite short transit durations.

Abstract

Planetary materials orbiting white dwarf stars reveal the ultimate fate of the planets of the Solar System and all known transiting exoplanets. Observed metal pollution and infrared excesses from debris disks support that planetary systems or their remnants are common around white dwarf stars; however, these planets are difficult to detect since a very high orbital inclination angle is required for a small white dwarf to be transited, and these transits have very short (minute) durations. The low odds of catching individual transits could be overcome by a sufficiently wide and fast photometric survey. I demonstrate that, by obtaining over 100 million images of white dwarf stars with 30-second exposures in its first three years, the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is likely to record the first exoplanetary transits of white dwarfs, as well as new systems of transiting, disintegrating planetesimals. In these proceedings, I describe my project strategy to discover these systems using the ZTF data.