Compact pebbles and the evolution of volatiles in the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov

TL;DR

This study provides detailed observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, revealing compact pebbles in its dust coma, variable gas composition, and insights into its formation environment and volatile evolution.

Contribution

First high-resolution interferometric and optical observations of 2I/Borisov, uncovering dust pebble properties, gas production rates, and nucleus heterogeneity, advancing understanding of interstellar comet composition.

Findings

Dust coma contains compact pebbles >1 mm in size.

Steady dust mass loss rate of >= 200 kg/s observed.

Detected CO gas with a production rate of ~3.3x10^{26} molecules/sec.

Abstract

The interstellar traveler, 2I/Borisov, is the first clearly active extrasolar comet, ever detected in our Solar system. We obtained high-resolution interferometric observations of 2I/Borisov with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and multi-color optical observations with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dust properties of this comet. We found that the dust coma of 2I/Borisov consists of compact "pebbles" of radii exceeding ~1 mm, suggesting that the dust particles have experienced compaction through mutual impacts during the bouncing collision phase in the protoplanetary disk. We derived a dust mass loss rate of >= 200 kg/s and a dust-to-gas ratio >=3. Our long term monitoring of 2I/Borisov with VLT indicates a steady dust mass loss with no significant dust fragmentation and/or sublimation occurring in the coma. We also detected emissions from carbon monoxide gas (CO) with ALMA and derived the gas production rate of Q(CO) (3.3+/-0.8)x10^{26} mole/s. We found that the CO/H$_2$O mixing ratio of 2I/Borisov changed drastically before and after perihelion, indicating the heterogeneity of the cometary nucleus, with components formed at different locations beyond the volatile snow-line with different chemical abundances. Our observations suggest that 2I/Borisov's home system, much like our own system, experienced efficient radial mixing from the innermost parts of its protoplanetary disk to beyond the frost line of CO.