arXiv subjects

Kaitlin M. Kratter

Publications and source records attributed to Kaitlin M. Kratter.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Dynamical Formation of Close Binaries During the Pre-main-sequence Phase

Solar-type binaries with short orbital periods ($P_{\rm close}$ $\equiv$ 1 - 10 days; $a$ $\lesssim$ 0.1 AU) cannot form directly via fragmentation of molecular clouds or protostellar disks, yet their component masses are highly correlated, suggesting interaction during the pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) phase. Moreover, the close binary fraction of pre-MS stars is consistent with that of their MS counterparts in the field ($F_{\rm close}$ = 2.1%). Thus we can infer that some migration mechanism operates during the early pre-MS phase ($τ$ $\lesssim$ 5 Myr) that reshapes the primordial separation distribution. We test the feasibility of this hypothesis by carrying out a population synthesis calculation which accounts for two formation channels: Kozai-Lidov (KL) oscillations and dynamical instability in triple systems. Our models incorporate (1) more realistic initial conditions compared to previous studies, (2) octupole-level effects in the secular evolution, (3) tidal energy dissipation via weak-friction equilibrium tides at small eccentricities and via non-radial dynamical oscillations at large eccentricities, and (4) the larger tidal radius of a pre-MS primary. Given a 15% triple star fraction, we simulate a close binary fraction from KL oscillations alone of $F_{\rm close}$ $\approx$ 0.4% after $τ$ = 5 Myr, which increases to $F_{\rm close}$ $\approx$ 0.8% by $τ$ = 5 Gyr. Dynamical ejections and disruptions of unstable coplanar triples in the disk produce solitary binaries with slightly longer periods $P$ $\approx$ 10 - 100 days. The remaining $\approx$60% of close binaries with outer tertiaries, particularly those in compact coplanar configurations with log $P_{\rm out}$ (days) $\approx$ 2 - 5 ($a_{\rm out}$ $<$ 50 AU), can be explained only with substantial extra energy dissipation due to interactions with primordial gas.

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arXiv2017

The fragmentation criteria in local vertically stratified self-gravitating disk simulations

Massive circumstellar disks are prone to gravitational instabilities, which trigger the formation of spiral arms that can fragment into bound clumps under the right conditions. Two dimensional simulations of self-gravitating disks are useful starting points for studying fragmentation, allowing for high-resolution simulations of thin disks. However, convergence issues can arise in 2D from various sources. One of these sources is the 2D approximation of self-gravity, which exaggerates the effect of self-gravity on small scales when the potential is not smoothed to account for the assumed vertical extent of the disk. This effect is enhanced by increased resolution, resulting in fragmentation at longer cooling timescales $β$. If true, it suggests that the 3D simulations of disk fragmentation may not have the same convergence problem and could be used to examine the nature of fragmentation without smoothing self-gravity on scales similar to the disk scale height. To that end, we have carried out local 3D self-gravitating disk simulations with simple $β$ cooling with fixed background irradiation to determine if 3D is necessary to properly describe disk fragmentation. Above a resolution of $\sim 40$ grid cells per scale height, we find that our simulations converge with respect to the cooling timescale. This result converges in agreement with analytic expectations which place a fragmentation boundary at $β_\mathrm{crit} = 3$.

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arXiv2017

Slowly-growing gap-opening planets trigger weaker vortices

The presence of a giant planet in a low-viscosity disc can create a gap edge in the disc's radial density profile sharp enough to excite the Rossby Wave Instability. This instability may evolve into dust-trapping vortices that might explain the "banana-shaped" features in recently observed asymmetric transition discs with inner cavities. Previous hydrodynamical simulations of planet-induced vortices have neglected the timescale of hundreds to thousands of orbits to grow a massive planet to Jupiter-size. In this work, we study the effect of a giant planet's runaway growth timescale on the lifetime and characteristics of the resulting vortex. For two different planet masses (1 and 5 Jupiter masses) and two different disc viscosities ($α$=3$\times 10^{-4}$ and 3$\times10^{-5}$), we compare the vortices induced by planets with several different growth timescales between 10 and 4000 planet orbits. In general, we find that slowly-growing planets create significantly weaker vortices with lifetimes and surface densities reduced by more than $50\%$. For the higher disc viscosity, the longest growth timescales in our study inhibit vortex formation altogether. Additionally, slowly-growing planets produce vortices that are up to twice as elongated, with azimuthal extents well above $180^{\circ}$ in some cases. These unique, elongated vortices likely create a distinct signature in the dust observations that differentiates them from the more concentrated vortices that correspond to planets with faster growth timescales. Lastly, we find that the low viscosities necessary for vortex formation likely prevent planets from growing quickly enough to trigger the instability in self-consistent models.

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arXiv2016

The Fate of Debris in the Pluto-Charon System

The Pluto-Charon system has come into sharper focus following the fly by of New Horizons. We use N-body simulations to probe the unique dynamical history of this binary dwarf planet system. We follow the evolution of the debris disc that might have formed during the Charon-forming giant impact. First, we note that in-situ formation of the four circumbinary moons is extremely difficult if Charon undergoes eccentric tidal evolution. We track collisions of disc debris with Charon, estimating that hundreds to hundreds of thousands of visible craters might arise from 0.3--5 km radius bodies. New Horizons data suggesting a dearth of these small craters may place constraints on the disc properties. While tidal heating will erase some of the cratering history, both tidal and radiogenic heating may also make it possible to differentiate disc debris craters from Kuiper belt object craters. We also track the debris ejected from the Pluto-Charon system into the Solar System; while most of this debris is ultimately lost from the Solar System, a few tens of 10--30 km radius bodies could survive as a Pluto-Charon collisional family. Most are plutinos in the 3:2 resonance with Neptune, while a small number populate nearby resonances. We show that migration of the giant planets early in the Solar System's history would not destroy this collisional family. Finally, we suggest that identification of such a family would likely need to be based on composition as they show minimal clustering in relevant orbital parameters.

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arXiv2016

ALMA Measurements of Circumstellar Material in the GQ Lup System

We present ALMA observations of the GQ Lup system, a young Sun-like star with a substellar mass companion in a wide-separation orbit. These observations of 870 $μ$m continuum and CO J=3-2 line emission with beam size $\sim0.3''$ ($\sim45$ AU) resolve the disk of dust and gas surrounding the primary star, GQ Lup A, and provide deep limits on any circumplanetary disk surrounding the companion, GQ Lup b. The circumprimary dust disk is compact with a FWHM of $59\pm12$ AU, while the gas has a larger extent with a characteristic radius of $46.5\pm1.8$ AU. By forward-modeling the velocity field of the circumprimary disk based on the CO emission, we constrain the mass of GQ Lup A to be $M_* = (1.03\pm0.05)*(d/156\text{ pc})$ $M_\odot$, where $d$ is a known distance, and determine that we view the disk at an inclination angle of $60.5^\circ\pm0.5^\circ$ and a position angle of $346^\circ \pm1^\circ$. The $3σ$ upper limit on the 870 $μ$m flux density of any circumplanetary disk associated with GQ Lup b of $<0.15$ mJy implies an upper limit on the dust disk mass of $<0.04$ $M_\oplus$ for standard assumptions about optically thin emission. We discuss proposed mechanisms for the formation of wide-separation substellar companions given the non-detection of circumplanetary disks around GQ Lup b and other similar systems.

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arXiv2016

Planet Scattering Around Binaries: Ejections, Not Collisions

Transiting circumbinary planets discovered by Kepler provide unique insight into binary star and planet formation. Several features of this new found population, for example the apparent pile-up of planets near the innermost stable orbit, may distinguish between formation theories. In this work, we determine how planet-planet scattering shapes planetary systems around binaries as compared to single stars. In particular, we look for signatures that arise due to differences in dynamical evolution in binary systems. We carry out a parameter study of N-body scattering simulations for four distinct planet populations around both binary and single stars. While binarity has little influence on the final system multiplicity or orbital distribution, the presence of a binary dramatically effects the means by which planets are lost from the system. Most circumbinary planets are lost due to ejections rather than planet-planet or planet-star collisions. The most massive planet in the system tends to control the evolution. Systems similar to the only observed multi-planet circumbinary system, Kepler-47, can arise from much more tightly packed, unstable systems. Only extreme initial conditions introduce differences in the final planet populations. Thus, we suggest that any intrinsic differences in the populations are imprinted by formation.

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arXiv2016

On the gravitational stability of gravito-turbulent accretion disks

Low mass, self-gravitating accretion disks admit quasi-steady,`gravito-turbulent' states in which cooling balances turbulent viscous heating. However, numerical simulations show that gravito-turbulence cannot be sustained beyond dynamical timescales when the cooling rate or corresponding turbulent viscosity is too large. The result is disk fragmentation. We motivate and quantify an interpretation of disk fragmentation as the inability to maintain gravito-turbulence due to formal secondary instabilities driven by: 1) cooling, which reduces pressure support; and/or 2) viscosity, which reduces rotational support. We analyze the axisymmetric gravitational stability of viscous, non-adiabatic accretion disks with internal heating, external irradiation, and cooling in the shearing box approximation. We consider parameterized cooling functions in 2D and 3D disks, as well as radiative diffusion in 3D. We show that generally there is no critical cooling rate/viscosity below which the disk is formally stable, although interesting limits appear for unstable modes with lengthscales on the order of the disk thickness. We apply this new linear theory to protoplanetary disks subject to gravito-turbulence modeled as an effective viscosity, and cooling regulated by dust opacity. We find that viscosity renders the disk beyond $\sim 60$AU dynamically unstable on radial lengthscales a few times the local disk thickness. This is coincident with the empirical condition for disk fragmentation based on a maximum sustainable stress. We suggest turbulent stresses can play an active role in realistic disk fragmentation by removing rotational stabilization against self-gravity, and that the observed transition in behavior from gravito-turbulent to fragmenting may reflect instability of the gravito-turbulent state itself.

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arXiv2016

Orbital Stability of Multi-Planet Systems: Behavior at High Masses

In the coming years, high contrast imaging surveys are expected to reveal the characteristics of the population of wide-orbit, massive, exoplanets. To date, a handful of wide planetary mass companions are known, but only one such multi-planet system has been discovered: HR8799. For low mass planetary systems, multi-planet interactions play an important role in setting system architecture. In this paper, we explore the stability of these high mass, multi-planet systems. While empirical relationships exist that predict how system stability scales with planet spacing at low masses, we show that extrapolating to super-Jupiter masses can lead to up to an order of magnitude overestimate of stability for massive, tightly packed systems. We show that at both low and high planet masses, overlapping mean motion resonances trigger chaotic orbital evolution, which leads to system instability. We attribute some of the difference in behavior as a function of mass to the increasing importance of second order resonances at high planet-star mass ratios. We use our tailored high mass planet results to estimate the maximum number of planets that might reside in double component debris disk systems, whose gaps may indicate the presence of massive bodies.

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arXiv2016

Gravitational Instabilities in Circumstellar Disks

[Abridged] Star and planet formation are the complex outcomes of gravitational collapse and angular momentum transport mediated by protostellar and protoplanetary disks. In this review we focus on the role of gravitational instability in this process. We begin with a brief overview of the observational evidence for massive disks that might be subject to gravitational instability, and then highlight the diverse ways in which the instability manifests itself in protostellar and protoplanetary disks: the generation of spiral arms, small scale turbulence-like density fluctuations, and fragmentation of the disk itself. We present the analytic theory that describes the linear growth phase of the instability, supplemented with a survey of numerical simulations that aim to capture the non-linear evolution. We emphasize the role of thermodynamics and large scale infall in controlling the outcome of the instability. Despite apparent controversies in the literature, we show a remarkable level of agreement between analytic predictions and numerical results. We highlight open questions related to (1) the development of a turbulent cascade in thin disks, and (2) the role of mode-mode coupling in setting the maximum angular momentum transport rate in thick disks.

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arXiv2016

Adaptive Optics imaging of VHS 1256-1257: A Low Mass Companion to a Brown Dwarf Binary System

Recently, Gauza et al. (2015) reported the discovery of a companion to the late M-dwarf, VHS J125601.92-125723.9 (VHS 1256-1257). The companion's absolute photometry suggests its mass and atmosphere are similar to the HR 8799 planets. However, as a wide companion to a late-type star, it is more accessible to spectroscopic characterization. We discovered that the primary of this system is an equal-magnitude binary. For an age $\sim300$ Myr the A and B components each have a mass of $64.6^{+0.8}_{-2.0}~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$, and the b component has a mass of $11.2^{+9.7}_{-1.8}$, making VHS 1256-1257 only the third brown dwarf triple system. There exists some tension between the spectrophotometric distance of $17.2\pm2.6$ pc and the parallax distance of $12.7\pm1.0$ pc. At 12.7 pc VHS1256-1257 A and B would be the faintest known M7.5 objects, and are even faint outliers among M8 types. If the larger spectrophotmetric distance is more accurate than the parallax, then the mass of each component increases. In particular, the mass of the b component increases well above the deuterium burning limit to $\sim35~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ and the mass of each binary component increases to $73^{+20}_{-17}~M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$. At 17.1 pc, the UVW kinematics of the system are consistent with membership in the AB~Dor moving group. The architecture of the system resembles a hierarchical stellar multiple suggesting it formed via an extension of the star-formation process to low masses. Continued astrometric monitoring will resolve this distance uncertainty and will provide dynamical masses for a new benchmark system.

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arXiv2015

Orbital Architectures of Planet-Hosting Binaries: I. Forming Five Small Planets in the Truncated Disk of Kepler-444A

We present the first results from our Keck program investigating the orbital architectures of planet-hosting multiple star systems. Kepler-444 is a metal-poor triple star system that hosts five sub-Earth-sized planets orbiting the primary star (Kepler-444A), as well as a spatially unresolved pair of M dwarfs (Kepler-444BC) at a projected distance of 1.8" (66 AU). We combine our Keck/NIRC2 adaptive optics astrometry with multi-epoch Keck/HIRES RVs of all three stars to determine a precise orbit for the BC pair around A, given their empirically constrained masses. We measure minimal astrometric motion ($1.0\pm0.6$ mas yr$^{-1}$, or $0.17\pm0.10$ km s$^{-1}$), but our RVs reveal significant orbital velocity ($1.7\pm0.2$ km s$^{-1}$) and acceleration ($7.8\pm0.5$ m s$^{-1}$ yr$^{-1}$). We determine a highly eccentric stellar orbit ($e=0.864\pm0.023$) that brings the tight M dwarf pair within $5.0^{+0.9}_{-1.0}$ AU of the planetary system. We validate that the system is dynamically stable in its present configuration via n-body simulations. We find that the A$-$BC orbit and planetary orbits are likely aligned (98%) given that they both have edge-on orbits and misalignment induces precession of the planets out of transit. We conclude that the stars were likely on their current orbits during the epoch of planet formation, truncating the protoplanetary disk at $\approx$2 AU. This truncated disk would have been severely depleted of solid material from which to form the total $\approx$1.5 $M_{\rm Earth}$ of planets. We thereby strongly constrain the efficiency of the conversion of dust into planets and suggest that the Kepler-444 system is consistent with models that explain the formation of more typical close-in Kepler planets in normal, not truncated, disks.

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arXiv2015

Simulated Photoevaporative Mass Loss from Hot Jupiters in 3D

Ionizing stellar photons heat the upper regions of planetary atmospheres, driving atmospheric mass loss. Gas escaping from several hot, hydrogen-rich planets has been detected using UV and X-ray transmission spectroscopy. Because these planets are tidally locked, and thus asymmetrically irradiated, escaping gas is unlikely to be spherically symmetric. In this paper, we focus on the effects of asymmetric heating on local outflow structure. We use the Athena code for hydrodynamics to produce 3D simulations of hot Jupiter mass loss that jointly model wind launching and stellar heating via photoionization. Our fiducial planet is an inflated, hot Jupiter with radius $R_p=2.14 R_{\rm Jup}$ and mass $M_p = 0.53 M_{\rm Jup}$. We irradiate the initially neutral, atomic hydrogen atmosphere with 13.6 eV photons and compute the outflow's ionization structure. There are clear asymmetries in the atmospheric outflow, including a neutral shadow on the planet's nightside. Given an incident ionizing UV flux comparable to that of the Sun, we find a steady-state mass loss rate of ~$2\times10^{10}$ g s$^{-1}$. The total mass loss rate and the outflow substructure along the substellar ray show good agreement with earlier 1D models, for two different fluxes. Our 3D data cube can be used to generate the outflow's extinction spectrum during transit. As a proof of concept, we find absorption of stellar Lyman-alpha at Doppler-shifted velocities of up to $\pm 50$ km s$^{-1}$. Our work provides a starting point for further 3D models that can be used to predict observable signatures of hot Jupiter mass loss.

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arXiv2015

Stellar orbit evolution in close circumstellar disc encounters

The formation and early evolution of circumstellar discs often occurs within dense, newborn stellar clusters. For the first time, we apply the moving-mesh code AREPO, to circumstellar discs in 3-D, focusing on disc-disc interactions that result from stellar fly-bys. Although a small fraction of stars are expected to undergo close approaches, the outcomes of the most violent encounters might leave an imprint on the discs and host stars that will influence both their orbits and their ability to form planets. We first construct well-behaved 3-D models of self-gravitating discs, and then create a suite of numerical experiments of parabolic encounters, exploring the effects of pericenter separation r_p, disc orientation and disc-star mass ratio (M_d/M_*) on the orbital evolution of the host stars. Close encounters (2r_p<~ disc radius) can truncate discs on very short time scales. If discs are massive, close encounters facilitate enough orbital angular momentum extraction to induce stellar capture. We find that for realistic primordial disc masses M_d<~0.1M_*, non-colliding encounters induce minor orbital changes, which is consistent with analytic calculations of encounters in the linear regime. The same disc masses produce entirely different results for grazing/colliding encounters. In the latter case, rapidly cooling discs lose orbital energy by radiating away the energy excess of the shock-heated gas, thus causing capture of the host stars into a bound orbit. In rare cases, a tight binary with a circumbinary disc forms as a result of this encounter.

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arXiv2015

Planet-disc interaction on a freely moving mesh

General-purpose, moving-mesh schemes for hydrodynamics have opened the possibility of combining the accuracy of grid-based numerical methods with the flexibility and automatic resolution adaptivity of particle-based methods. Due to their supersonic nature, Keplerian accretion discs are in principle a very attractive system for applying such freely moving mesh techniques. However, the high degree of symmetry of simple accretion disc models can be difficult to capture accurately by these methods, due to the generation of geometric grid noise and associated numerical diffusion, which is absent in polar grids. To explore these and other issues, in this work we study the idealized problem of two-dimensional planet-disc interaction with the moving-mesh code AREPO. We explore the hydrodynamic evolution of discs with planets through a series of numerical experiments that vary the planet mass, the disc viscosity and the mesh resolution, and compare the resulting surface density, vortensity field and tidal torque with results from the literature. We find that the performance of the moving-mesh code in this problem is in accordance with published results, showing good consistency with grid codes written in polar coordinates. We also conclude that grid noise and mesh distortions do not introduce excessive numerical diffusion. Finally, we show how the moving-mesh approach can naturally increase resolution in regions of high densityaround planets and planetary wakes, while retaining the background flow at low resolution. This provides an alternative to the difficult task of implementing adaptive mesh refinement in conventional polar-coordinate codes.

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arXiv2013

Planet Packing in Circumbinary Systems

The recent discovery of planets orbiting main sequence binaries will provide crucial constraints for theories of binary and planet formation. The formation pathway for these planets is complicated by uncertainties in the formation mechanism of the host stars. In this paper, we compare the dynamical states of single and binary star planetary systems. Specifically, we pose two questions: (1) What does it mean for a circumbinary system to be dynamically packed? (2) How many systems are required to differentiate between a population of packed or sparse planets? We determine when circumbinary systems become dynamically unstable as a function of the separation between the host-stars and the inner planet, and the first and second planets. We show that these represent unique stability constraints compared to single-star systems. We find that although the existing Kepler data is insufficient to distinguish between a population of packed or sparse circumbinary systems, a more thorough study of circumbinary TTVs combined with an order of magnitude increase in the number of systems may prove conclusive. Future space missions such as TESS provide the best opportunity for increasing the sample size.

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arXiv2013

Effect of Magnetic Misalignment on Protobinary Evolution

The majority of solar-type stars reside in multiple systems, especially binaries. They form in dense cores of molecular clouds that are observed to be significantly magnetized. Our previous study shows that magnetic braking can tighten the binary separation during the protostellar mass accretion phase by removing the angular momentum of the accreting material. Recent numerical calculations of single star formation have shown that misalignment between the magnetic field and rotation axis may weaken both magnetic braking and the associated magnetically driven outflows. These two effects allow for disk formation even in strongly magnetized cores. Here we investigate the effects of magnetic field misalignment on the properties of protobinaries. Somewhat surprisingly, the misaligned magnetic field is more efficient at tightening the binary orbit compared to the aligned field. The main reason is that the misalignment weakens the magnetically-driven outflow, which allows more material to accrete onto the binary. Even though the specific angular momentum of this inner material is higher than in the aligned case, it is insufficient to compensate for the additional mass. A corollary of this result is that a weaker field is required to achieve the same degree of inward migration when the field is tilted relative to the rotation axis. Large field misalignment also helps to produce rotationally-supported circumbinary disks even for relatively strong magnetic fields, by weakening the magnetically-dominated structure close to the binary. Our result may provide an explanation for the circumbinary disks detected in recent SMA and ALMA observations.

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arXiv2013

Spin-orbit alignment in the very low mass binary regime: The L dwarf tight binary 2MASSW J0746425+200032AB

Studies of solar-type binaries have found coplanarity between the equatorial and orbital planes of systems with $<$40 AU separation. By comparison, the alignment of the equatorial and orbital axes in the substellar regime, and the associated implications for formation theory, are relatively poorly constrained. Here we present the discovery of the rotation period of 3.32 $\pm$ 0.15 hours from 2MASS J0746+20A - the primary component of a tight (2.7 AU) ultracool dwarf binary system (L0+L1.5). The newly discovered period, together with the established period via radio observations of the other component, and the well constrained orbital parameters and rotational velocity measurements, allow us to infer alignment of the equatorial planes of both components with the orbital plane of the system to within 10 degrees. This result suggests that solar-type binary formation mechanisms may extend down into the brown dwarf mass range, and we consider a number of formation theories that may be applicable in this case. This is the first such observational result in the very low mass binary regime. In addition, the detected period of 3.32 $\pm$ 0.15 hours implies that the reported radio period of 2.07 $\pm$ 0.002 hours is associated with the secondary star, not the primary, as was previously claimed. This in turn refutes the claimed radius of 0.78 $\pm$ 0.1 $R_{J}$ for 2MASS J0746+20A, which we demonstrate to be 0.99 $\pm$ 0.03 $R_{J}$.

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arXiv2012

The triple evolution dynamical instability: Stellar collisions in the field and the formation of exotic binaries

Physical collisions and close approaches between stars play an important role in the formation of exotic stellar systems. Standard theories suggest that collisions are rare, occurring only via random encounters between stars in dense clusters. We present a different formation pathway, the triple evolution dynamical instability (TEDI), in which mass loss in an evolving triple star system causes orbital instability. The subsequent chaotic orbital evolution of the stars triggers close encounters, collisions, exchanges between the stellar components, and the dynamical formation of eccentric compact binaries (including Sirius like binaries). We demonstrate that the rate of stellar collisions due to the TEDI is approximately 10^{-4} yr^{-1} per Milky-Way Galaxy, which is nearly 30 times higher than the total collision rate due to random encounters in the Galactic globular clusters. Moreover, we find that the dominant type of stellar collisions is qualitatively different; most collisions involve asymptotic giant branch stars, rather than main sequence, or slightly evolved stars, which dominate collisions in globular clusters. The TEDI mechanism should lead us to revise our understanding of collisions and the formation of compact, eccentric binaries in the field.

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