Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-07-28
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
We present the results of a Spitzer photometric investigation into the IR excesses of close binary systems. In a sample of 10 objects, excesses in IRAC and MIPS24 bands implying the presence of warm dust are found for 3. For 2 objects we do not find excesses reported in earlier IRAS studies. We discuss the results in the context of the scenario suggested by Rhee and co-workers, in which warm dust is continuously created by destructive collisions between planetary bodies. A simple numerical model for the steady-state distribution of dust in one IR excess system shows a central clearing of radius 0.22 AU caused by dynamical perturbations from the binary star. This is consistent with the size of the central clearing derived from the Spitzer spectral energy distribution. We conclude that close binaries could be efficient "destroyers of worlds", lead to destabilize the orbits of their planetary progeny by magnetically-driven angular momentum loss and secular shrinkage of the binary separation.
Drake Jeremy J.
Kashyap Vinay L.
Kuchner Marc J.
Marengo Massimo
Matranga Marco
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