Amelia Lindsay-Kaufman

Chronos Stars: Unlikely Sites for Habitable Worlds

Elements heavier than helium have been accumulating in the universe since the Big Bang as the

result of stellar fusion and supernova nucleosynthesis, and because of this recent generations of stars

have formed with a higher concentration of metals than early stars. High metallicity in a stellar nebula is

essential for the formation of rocky planets, which consist predominantly of metals. Therefore, a good

strategy for finding rocky (and therefore potentially habitable) exoplanets is to weed out low-metallicity

stars from consideration. Low-metallicity stars must have formed from low-metallicity stellar nebulae,

and thus it is extremely unlikely that a terrestrial planet would be found in orbit around a low-metallicity

star. However, new research has shown that many stars form rocky planets and then engulf them later

(3). The consumption of metal-rich planets alters the metallicity of the star in a detectable way. Because

of this it is important when looking for Earth-like planets not only to look for high-metallicity stars but to

also look for stars which do not display the spectral signature associated with having absorbed rocky

planets, because a planet that has been engulfed by a star is no longer a potentially habitable planet.

Previously, metallicity in stars was considered only in terms of the concentration of iron

determined from the iron to hydrogen ratio, but from this ratio alone it was not possible to distinguish

the signature of planet absorption. Signs of planet consumption only become detectable when

measuring concentrations of specific refractory elements in the star. Refractory elements are those

which solidify at very high temperatures. Naturally objects in the hot inner solar system tend to form

from predominantly refractory elements while objects in the cold outer solar system tend to form from

volatile elements, such as water, which solidify at low temperatures (5). Spectral signatures of certain

refractory elements such as silicon and aluminum in high concentrations in a star are an indication that

rocky planets, consisting of those elements, have fallen into the star and altered its metallicity.
 In one study analyzing the relationship between star metallicity and presence of planets

conducted by Mack, Schuler and Stassun, the metal concentrations of two binary stars with exoplanets

were analyzed (4,1). The two stars, HD 20781 and HD 20782, are G-class stars like the Sun. They formed

together from the same stellar nebula and therefore should have formed with identical compositions.

One of the two stars is known to have two Neptune-sized gas giant planets orbiting close to the star, the

other has one Jupiter-sized planet in a highly elliptical orbit. In fact, the two stars were found to have

significantly different concentrations of refractory elements both from each other and from what would

be expected considering that they formed at a time when the universe was altogether less enriched in

metals. This strongly suggests that both stars consumed terrestrial planets. The amount of material

necessary to cause the change in composition was estimated to be ten Earth masses for the star with

the Jupiter-sized planet and twenty Earth masses for the other star. The authors suggest that the inward

migration of the gas giants likely pushed the rocky planets into the stars, and that the two Neptune-

sized planets may have been more efficient at driving the planets toward the star. Neither star is likely

to host terrestrial planets currently, making this system an unlikely place to find extraterrestrial life.

In another study conducted by Israelian et al. the presence of a specific isotope of lithium was

interpreted as evidence for planetary consumption (2). ⁶Li is a rare isotope which is destroyed in the

early evolution of sun-like stars, but residual ⁶Li can remain in the atmospheres of large planets. ⁶Li was

found in anomalously high concentrations in the high metallicity, sun-like star HD82943, which is known

to have two elliptically orbiting gas giant planets. The authors conclude that gravitational interactions

between the two gas giants and the hypothetical terrestrial planets drove the rocky planets into the

star. As many closely orbiting “hot Jupiters” have been observed around other stars, it is widely

accepted that gas giants often migrate inwards towards their star soon after the solar system formation.

Because of this it is possible that many stars with both gas giants and terrestrial planets tend to engulf

their rocky planets.

 In order to be habitable for Earth-like life, a planet must be roughly similar to Earth in terms of

composition and size. Therefore “terrestrial”, small, rocky planets are the best candidates for habitable

or inhabited planets and these are the planets that astrobiologists must look for. Because stars are

always more easily detectable than planets, methods which identify potentially habitable solar systems

based on stellar characteristics rather than planetary characteristics are vastly more efficient at weeding

out unsuitable solar systems. Previously, a stellar characteristic that was used to find stars with Earth-

like planets was metal concentration of the star, because stars which are too metal poor are unlikely to

host rocky, metal-rich planets. Now it is becoming clear that possibly many stars engulf their rocky

planets early on, resulting in metal-rich stars which no longer have terrestrial planets. In order to

efficiently winnow out uninhabitable solar systems, these planet-engulfing stars must also be rejected

from consideration. Measuring stellar concentrations of refractory elements provides a method to do

just this. In order to most efficiently identify stars which may host Earth-like planets, we must search for

stars with high metallicity but with concentrations of refractory elements not far exceeding those of our

Sun.

Sources:

(1) Mack III, Claude E., et al. "Detailed abundances of planet-hosting wide binaries. I. Did planet

formation imprint chemical signatures in the atmospheres of HD 20782/81?." The

Astrophysical Journal 787.2 (2014): 98.

(2) Israelian, G., et al. "Evidence for planet engulfment by the star HD82943." Nature 411.6834

(2001): 163-166.

(3) Luntz, Stephen. "Astronomers Have Identified Stars That Eat Earth-Like Planets." IFLScience.

IFLScience, 15 Aug. 2016.

(4) Salisbury, David. "Astronomers Identify Signature of Earth-eating Stars." Vanderbilt

University. Vanderbilt University, 16 May 1970

(5) "GEOL212 - Planetary Geology." GEOL212 - Planetary Geology. University of Maryland, n.d