Five New Post-Main-Sequence Debris Disks with Gaseous Emission

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of five new debris disks around white dwarf stars with gaseous emission, revealing ongoing accretion and variability, and providing insights into planetary destruction after stellar evolution.

Contribution

It introduces five newly identified post-main-sequence debris disks with gaseous emission, expanding understanding of planetary destruction around white dwarfs.

Findings

Detection of multiple metal species in emission lines

Observation of strong variability in emission lines

Presence of dust and gaseous debris around white dwarfs

Abstract

Observations of debris disks, the products of the collisional evolution of rocky planetesimals, can be used to trace planetary activity across a wide range of stellar types. The most common end points of stellar evolution are no exception as debris disks have been observed around several dozen white dwarf stars. But instead of planetary formation, post-main-sequence debris disks are a signpost of planetary destruction, resulting in compact debris disks from the tidal disruption of remnant planetesimals. In this work, we present the discovery of five new debris disks around white dwarf stars with gaseous debris in emission. All five systems exhibit excess infrared radiation from dusty debris, emission lines from gaseous debris, and atmospheric absorption features indicating on-going accretion of metal-rich debris. In four of the systems, we detect multiple metal species in emission, some of which occur at strengths and transitions previously unseen in debris disks around white dwarf stars. Our first year of spectroscopic follow-up hints at strong variability in the emission lines that can be studied in the future, expanding the range of phenomena these post-main-sequence debris disks exhibit.