Journal article
Predicting the water content of interstellar objects from galactic star formation histories
- Abstract:
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Planetesimals inevitably bear the signatures of their natal environment, preserving in their composition a record of the metallicity of their system's original gas and dust, albeit one altered by the formation processes. When planetesimals are dispersed from their system of origin, this record is carried with them. As each star is likely to contribute at least 1012 interstellar objects (ISOs), the Galaxy's drifting population of ISOs provides an overview of the properties of its stellar population through time. Using the EAGLE cosmological simulations and models of protoplanetary formation, our modeling predicts an ISO population with a bimodal distribution in their water mass fraction: objects formed in low-metallicity, typically older, systems have a higher water fraction than their counterparts formed in high-metallicity protoplanetary disks, and these water-rich objects comprise the majority of the population. Both detected ISOs seem to belong to the lower water fraction population; these results suggest they come from recently formed systems. We show that the population of ISOs in galaxies with different star formation histories will have different proportions of objects with high and low water fractions. This work suggests that it is possible that the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time will detect a large enough population of ISOs to place useful constraints on models of protoplanetary disks, as well as galactic structure and evolution.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, 454.1KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3847/2041-8213/ac41d5
Authors
- Publisher:
- IOP Science
- Journal:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters More from this journal
- Volume:
- 294
- Article number:
- 1
- Publication date:
- 2021-12-29
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-12-09
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2041-8213
- ISSN:
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2041-8205
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1226769
- Local pid:
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pubs:1226769
- Deposit date:
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2021-12-21
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Lintott et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- © 2021. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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