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MANY WHITE DWARFS HAVE BEEN FOUND TO HAVE THEIR SURFACES "POLLUTED" BY REMNANT ROCKY BODIES FROM THEIR PROGENITOR'S PLANETARY SYSTEMS. THESE POLLUTED WHITE DWARFS ARE OUR ONLY OBSERVATIONAL PROBE OF EXOPLANET INTERIOR CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS WHICH THEY CAN REVEAL IN EXQUISITE DETAIL. HOWEVER WITHOUT A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGINS OF WHITE DWARF POLLUTION IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FULLY LEVERAGE THE INFORMATION ABOUT CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS FROM THE POLLUTION ON THEIR SURFACES. WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE ORIGINS AND PROCESS OF WHITE DWARF POLLUTION BY IDENTIFYING TRANSITING DISINTEGRATING MINOR PLANETS ON ITS WAY TO POLLUTING WHITE DWARFS WITH TESS TWO-MINUTE CADENCE AND FULL FRAME IMAGE OBSERVATIONS. USING K2 OUR GROUP DISCOVERED THE FIRST AND ONLY EXAMPLE OF THIS PHENOMENON AROUND THE WHITE DWARF WD 1145+017 WHICH HAS YIELDED INSIGHTS INTO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROCKY POLLUTING OBJECTS AND HOW THEIR TIDAL DISRUPTION PROCEEDS. DETECTING MORE OF THESE OBJECTS WITH TESS WILL IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE ORIGINS OF WHITE DWARF POLLUTION AND HELP US PROPERLY INTERPRET THE INFORMATION ABOUT PLANETARY CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS FROM THE SURFACES OF WHITE DWARFS. WITH ONLY ONE KNOWN EXAMPLE IT IS VITAL TO UNDERSTAND IF WD 1145 IS TYPICAL OF THIS CLASS OF OBJECTS OR IF IT IS IN ANY WAY UNUSUAL - THEORY CAN ONLY BE CONSTRAINED SO MUCH BY A SINGLE SYSTEM. FINDING EVEN A SINGLE NEW WD 1145-LIKE SYSTEM WOULD BE A HIGHLY VALUABLE DISCOVERY. IF WE DETECT ZERO NEW WD 1145-LIKE SYSTEMS WITH TESS OBSERVATIONS WE WILL IMPROVE THE UPPER LIMIT ON THE OCCURRENCE RATE BY A FACTOR OF TWO. EITHER OF THESE OUTCOMES WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE PROCESS OF WHITE DWARFS ACCRETING ROCKY MATERIAL MOVING THE FIELD CLOSER TO UNDERSTANDING EXOPLANET CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS

$13,691FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

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