High-Drag Interstellar Objects And Galactic Dynamical Streams

• Main Author: Eubanks, T. Marshall
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 20-03-2019
• Subjects: Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1903.09496

The nature of 1I/'Oumuamua (henceforth, 1I), the first interstellar object
known to pass through the solar system, remains mysterious. Feng \& Jones noted
that the incoming 1I velocity vector "at infinity" ($\textbf{v}_{\infty}$) is
close to the motion of the Pleiades dynamical stream (or Local Association),
and suggested that 1I is a young object ejected from a star in that stream.
Micheli $\textit{et al.}$ subsequently detected non-gravitational acceleration
in the 1I trajectory; this acceleration would not be unusual in an active
comet, but 1I observations failed to reveal any signs of activity. Bialy $\&$
Loeb hypothesized that the anomalous 1I acceleration was instead due to
radiation pressure, which would require an extremely low mass-to-area ratio (or
area density). Here I show that a low area density can also explain the very
close kinematic association of 1I and the Pleiades stream, as it renders 1I
subject to drag capture by interstellar gas clouds. This supports the radiation
pressure hypothesis and suggests that there is a significant population of low
area density ISOs in the Galaxy, leading, through gas drag, to enhanced ISO
concentrations in the galactic dynamical streams. Any interstellar object
entrained in a dynamical stream will have a predictable incoming
$\textbf{v}_{\infty}$; targeted deep surveys using this information should be
able to find dynamical stream objects months to as much as a year before their
perihelion, providing the lead time needed for fast-response missions for the
future $\textit{in situ}$ exploration of such objects.