Star-Planet Interaction: Wave Structures and Wing-Wing Interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates electromagnetic interactions between planets and their host stars, focusing on wave structures and wing-wing interactions using magnetohydrodynamic simulations, exemplified by the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed MHD model for star-planet interactions, including wing-wing interactions, with simulations of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Findings

Wave structures include Alfvén wings, slow mode waves, and shocks.

Wing-wing interaction causes Poynting flux variations of about 20-40%.

Non-linear intensification of Poynting flux during planetary conjunctions.

Abstract

Electromagnetic Star-Planet Interaction (SPI) describes the phenomenon, when a planet couples to its host star via electromagnetic forces. Alfv\'en waves can establish such a coupling by forming Alfv\'en wings. SPI allows phenomena that we do not know from the Solar System. Wing-wing interaction is such an example, where the Alfv\'en wings of two planets merge and interact non-linearly. In this paper we focus on the effects that SPI has on other planets and the stellar wind. First, we analyse the different wave structures connected to SPI. The second part then investigates wing-wing interaction. Our study applies a magnetohydrodynamic model to describe a stellar system with multiple possible planets. As an example, we chose TRAPPIST-1 and its two innermost planets. We extended the PLUTO code to simulate collisions between atmospheric neutral particles and plasma ions. Neutral gas clouds imitate the planets and move through the simulation domain. That allows the simulation of fully time-dependent stellar systems. We analysed the wave structures, which result from the interaction between stellar wind and TRAPPIST-1 b. The inward going wave structure is an Alfv\'en wing. The outward going part of the interaction consists of an Alfv\'en wing, slow mode waves, the planetary wake and a slow shock. We quantified the strength of the respective wave perturbations at the outer planets to be on the order of 10\% to 40\% of the local background values of thermal, magnetic and dynamic pressure. Wing-wing interaction occurs due to the relative position of two planets during their conjunction and shows three phases. First there is an initial, non-linear intensification of the Poynting flux by $20\%$, an intermediate phase with reduced Poynting flux and a third phase when the Alfv\'en wing of planet c goes through planet b's wave structures with another intensification of the Poynting flux.