Mass and Origin of the Disrupted Bodies

Determine the masses and astrophysical origins of the rocky bodies disrupted around white dwarfs, distinguishing whether they are remnants of rocky planets or asteroids.

Background

The paper derives mass estimates for the obscuring dust, the accreted metals, and the infrared-emitting material around the newly identified systems. These estimates span nearly seven orders of magnitude, largely because they depend on uncertain dust geometry and assumptions about replenishment and optical thickness.

The authors therefore leave unresolved both the actual masses of the disrupted parent bodies and their provenance. In particular, it remains unknown whether the observed material originated from remnants of rocky planets or from asteroids. Resolving this question requires improved measurements of occurrence rates, recurrence times, debris orbital separations or periods, atmospheric metal enrichment, and infrared excesses and flares.