White dwarf magnetospheres: Shielding volatile content of icy objects and implications for volatile pollution scarcity

TL;DR

This paper explores how white dwarf magnetospheres may shield icy objects' volatiles, explaining the scarcity of volatile pollution signatures in white dwarf atmospheres through a model considering magnetic and orbital dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking white dwarf magnetospheres to volatile shielding, providing a potential explanation for observed pollution patterns and their relation to stellar magnetic properties.

Findings

Volatile sublimation occurs outside the corotation radius.

Magnetospheres can shield volatiles if larger than the corotation radius.

Model applied to nine white dwarfs shows potential explanations for observed pollution patterns.

Abstract

Context. About 25% -- 50% of white dwarfs are found to be contaminated by heavy elements, which are believed to originate from external sources such as planetary materials. Elemental abundances suggest that most of the pollutants are rocky objects and only a small fraction of white dwarfs bear traces of volatile accretion. Aims. In order to account for the scarcity of volatile pollution, we investigate the role of the white dwarfs' magnetospheres in shielding the volatile content of icy objects. Methods. We estimated the volatile sublimation of inward-drifting exocomets. We assume the orbits of the exocomets are circularized by the Alfven wing drag that is effective for long-period comets. Results. Volatile material can sublimate outside the corotation radius and be shielded by the magnetic field. {The two conditions for this volatile-shielded mechanism are that the magnetosphere radius must be larger than the corotation radius and that the volatiles are depleted outside the corotation radius, which requires a sufficiently slow orbital circularization process.} We applied our model to nine white dwarfs with known rotational periods, magnetic fields, and atmosphere compositions. Our volatile-shielded model may explain the excess of volatile elements such as C and S in the disk relative to the white dwarf atmosphere in WD2326+049 (G29-38). Nevertheless, given the sensitivity of our model to the circularization process and material properties of icy objects, there remains considerable uncertainty in our results. Conclusions. Our work suggests a possible explanation for the scarcity of volatile-accretion signatures among white dwarfs. We also identify a correlation between the magnetic field strength, the spin period, and the composition of pollutants in white dwarf atmospheres.