Eccentric Gas Disk Orbiting the White Dwarf SDSS J1228+1040

Abstract

Metal pollution onto white dwarfs is a wide-spread phenomenon that remains puzzling. Some of these white dwarfs also harbour gaseous debris disks. Emission lines from these disks open a unique window to the physical properties of the polluting material, lending insights to their origin. We model the emission line kinematics for the gas disk around SDSS J1228+1040, a system that has been monitored for over two decades. We show that the disk mass is strongly peaked at 1 solar radius (modulo the unknown inclination), and the disk eccentricity decreases from a value of 0.44 at the inner edge, to nearly zero at the outer edge. This eccentricity profile is exactly what one expects if the disk is in a global eccentric mode, precessing rigidly under general relativity and gas pressure. The precession period is about two decades. We infer that the mass of the gas disk is roughly equivalent to that of a 50-km rocky body, while the mass of the accompanying dust disk is likely insignificant. The disk eccentricity confirms an origin in tidal disruption, while the short disk diffusion time suggests that the disruption event happened a few centuries ago. Moreover, we argue that the initial orbit for the disrupted body, and that of its putative planetary perturber, fall within an AU around the white dwarf. The total mass of the source population is likely orders of magnitude more massive than our own Asteroid belt, and does not seem to exist around main-sequence stars.