Abstract
We explore the properties of an optical transient event formed by the destruction of a planet by a brown dwarf (BD) - a BD-planet mergerburst. When a massive planet approaches a BD towards a merging process it will be tidally destroyed and will form an accretion disc around the BD. The viscosity in the disc sets the characteristic time for the event - several days. We suggest that BD-planet mergerburst events have light curves resembling those of other intermediate luminosity optical transient events, such as V838 Mon, but at shorter time-scales and lower luminosities. With the high percentage coverage of the sky, we expect that such events will be detected in the near future.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1965-1970 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 416 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Accretion, accretion discs
- Brown dwarfs
- Planet-star interactions
- Stars: flare