English

Close encounters with the Death Star: Interactions between collapsed bodies and the Solar System

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2021-04-14 v2 Astrophysics of Galaxies Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

Aims: We aim to investigate the consequences of a fast massive stellar remnant - a black hole (BH) or a neutron star (NS) - encountering a planetary system. Methods: We modelled a close encounter between the actual Solar System (SS) and a 2M2\,M_\odot NS and a 10M10\,M_\odot BH, using a few-body symplectic integrator. We used a range of impact parameters, orbital phases at the start of the simulation derived from the current SS orbital parameters, encounter velocities, and incidence angles relative to the plane of the SS. Results: We give the distribution of possible outcomes, such as when the SS remains bound, when it suffers a partial or complete disruption, and in which cases the intruder is able to capture one or more planets, yielding planetary systems around a BH or a NS. We also show examples of the long-term stability of the captured planetary systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2103.12745,
  title  = {Close encounters with the Death Star: Interactions between collapsed bodies and the Solar System},
  author = {Václav Pavlík and Steven N. Shore},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.12745},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

25 pages, 22 figures 1 table, published in A&A Letters (Free access)