Kaitlin M. Kratter

The Runts of the Litter: Why planets formed through gravitational instability can only be failed binary stars

Recent direct imaging discoveries suggest a new class of massive, distant planets around A stars. These widely separated giants have been interpreted as signs of planet formation driven by gravitational instability, but the viability of this mechanism is not clear cut. In this paper, we first discuss the local requirements for fragmentation and the initial fragment mass scales. We then consider whether the fragments subsequent growth can be terminated within the planetary mass regime. Finally, we place disks in the larger context of star formation and disk evolution models. We find that in order for gravitational instability to produce planets, disks must be atypically cold in order to reduce the initial fragment mass. In addition, fragmentation must occur during a narrow window of disk evolution, after infall has mostly ceased, but while the disk is still sufficiently massive to undergo gravitational instability. Under more typical conditions, disk-born objects will likely grow well above the deuterium burning planetary mass limit. We conclude that if planets are formed by gravitational instability, they must be the low mass tail of the distribution of disk-born companions. To validate this theory, on-going direct imaging surveys must find a greater abundance of brown dwarf and M-star companions to A-stars. Their absence would suggest planet formation by a different mechanism such as core accretion, which is consistent with the debris disks detected in these systems.

On the Role of Disks in the Formation of Stellar Systems: A Numerical Parameter Study of Rapid Accretion

We study rapidly accreting, gravitationally unstable disks with a series of idealized global, numerical experiments using the code ORION. Our numerical parameter study focuses on protostellar disks, showing that one can predict disk behavior and the multiplicity of the accreting star system as a function of two dimensionless parameters which compare the infall rate to the disk sound speed and orbital period. Although gravitational instabilities become strong, we find that fragmentation into binary or multiple systems occurs only when material falls in several times more rapidly than the canonical isothermal limit. The disk-to-star accretion rate is proportional to the infall rate and governed by gravitational torques generated by low-m spiral modes. We also confirm the existence of a maximum stable disk mass: disks that exceed ~50% of the total system mass are subject to fragmentation and the subsequent formation of binary companions.

Accreting protoplanets in the LkCa 15 transition disk

Exoplanet detections have revolutionized astronomy, offering new insights into solar system architecture and planet demographics. While nearly 1,900 exoplanets have now been discovered and confirmed, none are still in the process of formation. Transition disks, protoplanetary disks with inner clearings best explained by the influence of accreting planets, are natural laboratories for the study of planet formation. Some transition disks show evidence for the presence of young planets in the form of disk asymmetries or infrared sources detected within their clearings, as in the case of LkCa 15 (refs 8, 9). Attempts to observe directly signatures of accretion onto protoplanets have hitherto proven unsuccessful. Here we report adaptive optics observations of LkCa 15 that probe within the disk clearing. With accurate source positions over multiple epochs spanning 2009–2015, we infer the presence of multiple companions on Keplerian orbits. We directly detect Hα emission from the innermost companion, LkCa 15 b, evincing hot (about 10,000 kelvin) gas falling deep into the potential well of an accreting protoplanet.

Southern Massive Stars at High Angular Resolution: Observational Campaign and Companion Detection

Multiplicity is one of the most fundamental observable properties of massive O-type stars and offers a promising way to discriminate between massive star formation theories. Nevertheless, companions at separations between 1 and 100 milliarcsec (mas) remain mostly unknown due to intrinsic observational limitations. At a typical distance of 2 kpc, this corresponds to projected physical separations of 2–200 AU. The Southern MAssive Stars at High angular resolution survey (smash+) was designed to fill this gap by providing the first systematic interferometric survey of Galactic massive stars. We observed 117 O-type stars with VLTI/PIONIER and 162 O-type stars with NACO/ Sparse Aperture Masking (SAM), probing the separation ranges 1–45 and 30–250 mas and brightness contrasts of Δ H< 4 and Δ H< 5, respectively. Taking advantage of NACO’s field of view, we further uniformly searched for visual companions in an 8 �� radius down to ΔH = 8. This paper describes observations and data analysis, reports the discovery of almost 200 new companions in the separation range from 1 mas to 8 �� and presents a catalog of detections, including the first resolved measurements of over a dozen known long-period spectroscopic binaries. Excluding known runaway stars for which no companions are detected, 96 objects in our main sample ( δ< 0 ◦ ; H< 7.5) were observed both with PIONIER and NACO/SAM. The fraction of these stars with at least one resolved companion within 200 mas is 0.53. Accounting for known but unresolved spectroscopic or eclipsing companions, the multiplicity fraction at separation ρ< 8 �� increases to fm = 0.91 ± 0.03. The fraction of luminosity class V stars that have a bound companion reaches 100% at 30 mas while their average number of physically connected companions within 8 �� is fc = 2.2 ± 0.3. This demonstrates that massive stars form nearly exclusively in multiple systems. The nine non-thermal radio emitters observed by smash+ are all resolved, including the newly discovered pairs HD 168112 and CPD−47 ◦ 2963. This lends strong support to the universality of the wind-wind collision

An Empirical Correction for Activity Effects on the Temperatures, Radii, and Estimated Masses of Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs

We present empirical relations for determining the amount by which the effective temperatures and radii—and therefore the estimated masses—of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs are altered due to chromospheric activity. We base our relations on a large set of low-mass stars in the field with Hα activity measurements, and on a set of low-mass eclipsing binaries with X-ray activity measurements from which we indirectly infer the Hα activity. Both samples yield consistent relations linking the amount by which an active objects temperature is suppressed, and its radius inflated, to the strength of its Hα emission. These relations are found to approximately preserve bolometric luminosity. We apply these relations to the peculiar brown dwarf eclipsing binary 2M0535–05, in which the active, higher-mass brown dwarf has a cooler temperature than its inactive, lower-mass companion. The relations correctly reproduce the observed temperatures and radii of 2M0535–05 after accounting for the Hα emission; 2M0535–05 would be in precise agreement with theoretical isochrones were it is inactive. The relations that we present are applicable to brown dwarfs and low-mass stars with masses below 0.8 M ☉ and for which the activity, as measured by the fractional Hα luminosity, is in the range –4.6 log L Hα/L bol – 3.3. We expect these relations to be most useful for correcting radius and mass estimates of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs over their active lifetimes (few Gyr) and when the ages or distances (and therefore luminosities) are unknown. We also discuss the implications of this work for improved determinations of young cluster initial mass functions.

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.

Fragment Production and Survival in Irradiated Disks: A Comprehensive Cooling Criterion

Accretion disks that become gravitationally unstable can fragment into stellar or substellar companions. The formation and survival of these fragments depends on the precarious balance between self-gravity, internal pressure, tidal shearing, and rotation. Disk fragmentation depends on two key factors: (1) whether the disk can get to the fragmentation boundary of Q = 1 and (2) whether fragments can survive for many orbital periods. Previous work suggests that to reach Q = 1, and have fragments survive, a disk must cool on an orbital timescale. Here we show that disks heated primarily by external irradiation always satisfy the standard cooling time criterion. Thus, even though irradiation heats disks and makes them more stable in general, once they reach the fragmentation boundary, they fragment more easily. We derive a new cooling criterion that determines fragment survival and calculate a pressure-modified Hill radius, which sets the maximum size of pressure-supported objects in a Keplerian disk. We conclude that fragmentation in protostellar disks might occur at slightly smaller radii than previously thought and recommend tests for future simulations that will better predict the outcome of fragmentation in real disks.

Direct imaging discovery of a Jovian exoplanet within a triple-star system

Spying a planet in a triple-star system Thousands of extrasolar planets are now known, but only a handful have been detected in direct images. Wagner et al. used sophisticated adaptive optics to discover a planet in images of the triple-star system HD 131399 and to take a spectrum of its atmosphere (see the Perspective by Oppenheimer). The planet, about four times the mass of Jupiter, orbits around one star in the system while the other two stars move farther out. This unusual arrangement is puzzling: The planets orbit may be stable, but it is unclear how it could have formed or migrated there. The results will be used to refine theories of planet formation. Science, this issue p. 673; see also p. 644 Images of the triple-star system HD 131399 reveal an extrasolar planet on an unusual orbit. Direct imaging allows for the detection and characterization of exoplanets via their thermal emission. We report the discovery via imaging of a young Jovian planet in a triple-star system and characterize its atmospheric properties through near-infrared spectroscopy. The semimajor axis of the planet is closer relative to that of its hierarchical triple-star system than for any known exoplanet within a stellar binary or triple, making HD 131399 dynamically unlike any other known system. The location of HD 131399Ab on a wide orbit in a triple system demonstrates that massive planets may be found on long and possibly unstable orbits in multistar systems. HD 131399Ab is one of the lowest mass (4 ± 1 Jupiter masses) and coldest (850 ± 50 kelvin) exoplanets to have been directly imaged.

A Triple Protostar System Formed via Fragmentation of a Gravitationally Unstable Disk

Binary and multiple star systems are a frequent outcome of the star formation process and as a result almost half of all stars with masses similar to that of the Sun have at least one companion star. Theoretical studies indicate that there are two main pathways that can operate concurrently to form binary/multiple star systems: large-scale fragmentation of turbulent gas cores and filaments or smaller-scale fragmentation of a massive protostellar disk due to gravitational instability. Observational evidence for turbulent fragmentation on scales of more than 1,000 astronomical units has recently emerged. Previous evidence for disk fragmentation was limited to inferences based on the separations of more-evolved pre-main sequence and protostellar multiple systems. The triple protostar system L1448 IRS3B is an ideal system with which to search for evidence of disk fragmentation as it is in an early phase of the star formation process, it is likely to be less than 150,000 years old and all of the protostars in the system are separated by less than 200 astronomical units. Here we report observations of dust and molecular gas emission that reveal a disk with a spiral structure surrounding the three protostars. Two protostars near the centre of the disk are separated by 61 astronomical units and a tertiary protostar is coincident with a spiral arm in the outer disk at a separation of 183 astronomical units. The inferred mass of the central pair of protostellar objects is approximately one solar mass, while the disk surrounding the three protostars has a total mass of around 0.30 solar masses. The tertiary protostar itself has a minimum mass of about 0.085 solar masses. We demonstrate that the disk around L1448 IRS3B appears susceptible to disk fragmentation at radii between 150 and 320 astronomical units, overlapping with the location of the tertiary protostar. This is consistent with models for a protostellar disk that has recently undergone gravitational instability, spawning one or two companion stars.

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 collision 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.