White dwarfs as tracers of evolved planetary systems

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• Dr Paula Izquierdo (Warwick)
• Tuesday 04 November 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact James Rogers.

The vast majority of all planet-hosting stars, including the Sun, will eventually evolve into white dwarfs. During this evolution, the innermost planets will evaporate but asteroids and planets beyond a few astronomical units will survive. The reduced dynamical stability of the evolved planetary system can scatter these surviving bodies into the white dwarf Roche radius where they are shredded by tidal forces. This debris can be detected through different signposts and studying these systems provides extremely detailed insight into the bulk composition of extrasolar planets, live tidal-disruption bodies and an additional tool to unveil orbiting planets. In this seminar, I will highlight the chemical compositions of the parent bodies derived by the heaviest metal-enriched white dwarfs observed so far by DESI . In addition, I will present a toy model to estimate the contribution of planetary material to the significant hydrogen contained in many He-dominated white dwarfs.

This talk is part of the Exoplanet Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Cambridge Astronomy Talks
• Combined External Astrophysics Talks DAMTP
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Exoplanet Seminars
• Institute of Astronomy Talk Lists
• LCLU Departmental Talks
• Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email

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