Accretion Rate Changes Detected in a Polluted White Dwarf

TL;DR

This study observes significant changes in metal absorption lines in a polluted white dwarf over 25 years, providing empirical evidence for diffusion theory and insights into circumstellar accretion processes.

Contribution

It presents the first empirical detection of accretion rate decreases in a white dwarf, supporting diffusion theory and suggesting a gradual circumstellar accretion mechanism.

Findings

Metal absorption lines vary over 25 years.

Accretion rates of Mg and Ca decreased by ~20% and ~60%.

Fe dominates the accreted material by mass.

Abstract

This letter reports statistically significant changes in the equivalent widths of MgII and CaII lines in the dusty and polluted white dwarf WD 0106-328, based on six epochs of spectroscopy using the VLT and Keck spanning 25 yr. Furthermore, the ratio of these two equivalent widths may also vary, with a 7% probability of being constant. Between 2000 and 2025, both Mg and Ca have experienced decreases in accretion rates, of approximately 20 and 60%, respectively, but with individual variation during the interim. These metal abundance decreases are the first empirical corroboration of diffusion theory in white dwarfs, which predict sinking timescales on the order of days for this star. However, the persistent atmospheric metals require a more gradual, circumstellar process, where one possibility is viscous spreading in an ionized disk of metals, consistent with $\alpha\approx0.1$ within that formalism. The combination of optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy with the Hubble Space Telescope detects all the major rock-forming elements (O, Mg, Si, Fe), and demonstrates that Fe dominates the accreted material by mass, and that it is delivered mostly as pure metal from within a differentiated parent body. This inference is consistent with the possibility that chemically-segregated accretion may result from a combination of planetary assembly, fragmentation, disk evolution, and be observed on relatively short timescales.