The Massive Disk Around OH 231.8+4.2

We have obtained 11.7 micron and 17.9 micron images at the Keck I telescope of the circumstellar dust emission from OH 231.8+4.2, an evolved mass-losing red giant with a well studied bipolar outflow. We detect both a central unresolved point source and extended emission which is aligned with the bipolar outflow seen on larger scales. We find that the unresolved central source can be explained by an opaque, flared disk with an outer radius near 300 AU and an outer temperature of about 130 K. One possible model to explain this flaring is that the material in the disk is orbiting the central star and not simply undergoing a radial expansion.Comment: ApJ, in pres

The Discovery of the Most Metal-Rich White Dwarf: Composition of a Tidally Disrupted Extrasolar Dwarf Planet

Cool white dwarf stars are usually found to have an outer atmosphere that is practically pure in hydrogen or helium. However, a small fraction have traces of heavy elements that must originate from the accretion of extrinsic material, most probably circumstellar matter. Upon examining thousands of Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra, we discovered that the helium-atmosphere white dwarf SDSS J073842.56+183509.6 shows the most severe metal pollution ever seen in the outermost layers of such stars. We present here a quantitative analysis of this exciting star by combining high S/N follow-up spectroscopic and photometric observations with model atmospheres and evolutionary models. We determine the global structural properties of our target star, as well as the abundances of the most significant pollutants in its atmosphere, i.e., H, O, Na, Mg, Si, Ca, and Fe. The relative abundances of these elements imply that the source of the accreted material has a composition similar to that of Bulk Earth. We also report the signature of a circumstellar disk revealed through a large infrared excess in JHK photometry. Combined with our inferred estimate of the mass of the accreted material, this strongly suggests that we are witnessing the remains of a tidally disrupted extrasolar body that was as large as Ceres.Comment: 7 pages in emulateapj, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Detailed compositional analysis of the heavily polluted DBZ white dwarf SDSS J073842.56+183509.06: A window on planet formation?

We present a new model atmosphere analysis of the most metal contaminated white dwarf known, the DBZ SDSS J073842.56+183509.06. Using new high resolution spectroscopic observations taken with Keck and Magellan, we determine precise atmospheric parameters and measure abundances of 14 elements heavier than helium. We also report new Spitzer mid-infrared photometric data that are used to better constrain the properties of the debris disk orbiting this star. Our detailed analysis, which combines data taken from 7 different observational facilities (GALEX, Gemini, Keck, Magellan, MMT, SDSS and Spitzer) clearly demonstrate that J0738+1835 is accreting large amounts of rocky terrestrial-like material that has been tidally disrupted into a debris disk. We estimate that the body responsible for the photospheric metal contamination was at least as large Ceres, but was much drier, with less than 1% of the mass contained in the form of water ice, indicating that it formed interior to the snow line around its parent star. We also find a correlation between the abundances (relative to Mg and bulk Earth) and the condensation temperature; refractory species are clearly depleted while the more volatile elements are possibly enhanced. This could be the signature of a body that formed in a lower temperature environment than where Earth formed. Alternatively, we could be witnessing the remains of a differentiated body that lost a large part of its outer layers.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Spectral synthesis of circumstellar disks - application to white dwarf debris disks

Gas and dust disks are common objects in the universe and can be found around various objects, e.g. young stars, cataclysmic variables, active galactic nuclei, or white dwarfs. The light that we receive from disks provides us with clues about their composition, temperature, and density. In order to better understand the physical and chemical dynamics of these disks, self-consistent radiative transfer simulations are inevitable. Therefore, we have developed a 1+1D radiative transfer code as an extension to the well-established model atmosphere code \verb!PHOENIX!. We will show the potential of the application of our code to model the spectra of white dwarf debris disks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in: Proceedings of the 16th European Workshop on White Dwarf

A Tidally-Disrupted Asteroid Around the White Dwarf G29-38

The infrared excess around the white dwarf G29-38 can be explained by emission from an opaque flat ring of dust with an inner radius 0.14 of the radius of the Sun and an outer radius approximately equal to the Sun's. This ring lies within the Roche region of the white dwarf where an asteroid could have been tidally destroyed, producing a system reminiscent of Saturn's rings. Accretion onto the white dwarf from this circumstellar dust can explain the observed calcium abundance in the atmosphere of G29-38. Either as a bombardment by a series of asteroids or because of one large disruption, the total amount of matter accreted onto the white dwarf may have been comparable to the total mass of asteroids in the Solar System, or, equivalently, about 1% of the mass in the asteroid belt around the main sequence star zeta Lep.Comment: ApJ Letters, in pres

X-ray and Infrared Observations of Two Externally-Polluted White Dwarfs

With XMM-Newton and the Spitzer Space Telescope, we obtain upper bounds to the X-ray fluxes from G29-38 and GD 362, and the 70 micron flux from G29-38. These data provide indirect evidence that G29-38 is accreting from a tidally-disrupted asteroid: it is neither accreting large amounts of hydrogen and helium nor is its surrounding dusty disk being replenished from a reservoir of cold grains experiencing Poynting-Robertson drag. The upper bound to the X-ray flux from GD 362 is consistent with the estimated rate of mass accretion required to explain its pollution by elements heavier than helium. GD 362 also possesses 0.01 of an Earth's mass of hydrogen, an anomalously large amount for a white dwarf with a helium-dominated atmosphere. One possibility is that before the current disk was formed, this hydrogen was accreted from either about 100 Ceres-like asteroids or one large object. An alternative scenario which simultaneously explains all of GD 362's distinctive properties is that we are witnessing the consequences of the tidal-destruction of a single parent body that had internal water and was at least as massive as Callisto and probably as massive as Mars.Comment: ApJ, in pres

The hot and cold interstellar matter of early type galaxies and their radio emission

Over the last few years, the knowledge of the interstellar matter (ISM) of early type galaxies has increased dramatically. Many early type galaxies are now known to have ISM in three different phases: cold (neutral hydrogen (HI), dust and molecular material), warm (ionized) and hot (S-ray emitting) gas. Early type galaxies have smaller masses of cold ISM (10 to the 7th power - 10 to the 8th power solar mass; Jura et al. 1987) than later type spiral galaxies, while they have far more hot gas (10 to the 9th power - 10 to the tenth power solar mass; Forman et al. 1985, Canizares et al. 1987). In order to understand the relationship between the different phases of the ISM and the role of the ISM in fueling radio continuum sources and star formation, researchers compared observational data from a wide range of wavelengths