General relativity may save some planets from death

The planets that revolve around the dead stars known as white dwarves are able to stay fit thanks to the general relativity that changes the skill of their movement.

When stars like our sun are running out of fuel, they expand and become red giants before expelling their outer layers, leaving behind only their heavy hot essence – known as white dwarf. The giant planets that revolve around these remains are found, indicating that the worlds can survive the star’s expansion.

It is also possible that the rocky planets are able to orbits near these stars inside their small areas suitable for housing, which is the area around the star where liquid water can be found on the surface of the planet, although none of them have been found yet. Here they can still live for long periods of time because white dwarves cool very slowly, and perhaps more than trillion years.

The area suitable for housing will be very close to the star, a few million kilometers – small compared to the Earth’s orbit of 150 million kilometers. However, previous research indicates that any larger planet is taking place nearby Make it impossible for life to survive Because of the effect of the tidal heating: The pulling of the larger planet will generate internal friction that heats the minor, which leads to a warm, fleeing effect such as Venus.

But this may not be always the case, according to the drafting study conducted by Eva Staffen and Juliet Baker At the University of Wisconsin Madison. Their work shows that under appropriate circumstances, Einstein’s general theory can save the inner planet.

General relativity explains how huge things bend at space, which we can imagine as a retreat or a “well” in a flat sheet. Basically, the gravitational well of the host star would cause the planet to precede the planet – or spin slowly – and bear any companion as the planet decreased inside and outside the well.

“The repetition that surpasses the outer planet from the inner planet,” says Staffen, which prevents the effects of the tidal on this planet. “Previous simulations did not include general relative, but this tells people to include them in these nearby systems.”

Without general relativity, any external planet represents at least the Earth’s mass and within 18 times, the deeper planet would cause the fleeing greenhouse effect, says Baker. But: “If you add general relativity in it, it is not harsh,” she says, with the inner planet capable of staying suitable even if the outer planet is like Nevtune at a similar distance.

Mary Ann Limbach At the University of Michigan, the risk of finding such a system is not clear. She says, “We do not even know whether there are planets suitable for housing around the white dwarves,” not to mention that public relativity play a role. Telescopes such as the James Web telescope are actively searched for rock worlds around the white dwarves.

However, the research provides an extraordinary group of reasonable circumstances where, in appropriate circumstances, the inhabitants of a world may remain alive thanks to the curvature of time.

“Maybe they will have an easier time to know the general relativity that was more than we did,” says Limbach.

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