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1810 11490
1810 11490
ABSTRACT
‘Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1) is the first object of interstellar origin observed in the Solar System. Recently,
Micheli et al. (2018) reported that ‘Oumuamua showed deviations from a Keplerian orbit at a high statistical
significance. The observed trajectory is best explained by an excess radial acceleration ∆a ∝ r−2 , where r is
arXiv:1810.11490v2 [astro-ph.EP] 30 Oct 2018
the distance of ‘Oumuamua from the Sun. Such an acceleration is naturally expected for comets, driven by the
evaporating material. However, recent observational and theoretical studies imply that ‘Oumuamua is not an
active comet. We explore the possibility that the excess acceleration results from Solar radiation pressure. The
required mass-to-area ratio is (m/A) ≈ 0.1 g cm−2 . For a thin sheet this requires a width of ≈ 0.3 − 0.9 mm.
We find that although extremely thin, such an object would survive an interstellar travel over Galactic distances
of ∼ 5 kpc, withstanding collisions with gas and dust-grains as well as stresses from rotation and tidal forces.
We discuss the possible origins of such an object including the possibility that it might be a lightsail of artificial
origin. Our general results apply to any light probes designed for interstellar travel.
Subject headings: ISM: individual objects (1I/2017 U1) – minor planets, asteroids: individual (1I/2017 U1) –
General: extraterrestrial intelligence – Minor planets, asteroids: general
4.2. Tidal Forces estimate for ‘Oumuamua. If radiation pressure is the acceler-
The tidal force will be maximal if the long dimension of the ating force, then ‘Oumuamua represents a new class of thin
object is parallel to the Sun-object vector. Again, modeling interstellar material, either produced naturally,through a yet
the object as consisting of two halves as in §4.1, the difference unknown process in the ISM or in proto-planetary disks, or of
in the gravitational force experienced by the far and near ends an artificial origin.
of the object is, Considering an artificial origin, one possibility is that
1 GM m ‘Oumuamua is a lightsail, floating in interstellar space as a de-
δF ≈ d , (20) bris from an advanced technological equipment (Loeb 2018).
4 r3 Lightsails with similar dimensions have been designed and
where r is the distance of the center of mass from the Sun. constructed by our own civilization, including the IKAROS
The associated tensile stress, project and the Starshot Initiative2 . The lightsail technol-
1 GM ogy might be abundantly used for transportation of cargos
Ptid ≈ ρd 2 3 (21) between planets (Guillochon & Loeb 2015) or between stars
4 r
r −3 (Lingam & Loeb 2017). In the former case, dynamical ejec-
= 9.9 × 10−7 ρ0 d42 dyne cm−2 . tion from a planetary System could result in space debris of
AU equipment that is not operational any more 3 (Loeb 2018),
Even at perihelion (r = 0.25 AU), the tensile stress is negligi- and is floating at the characteristic speed of stars relative
ble. to each other in the Solar neighborhood. This would ac-
The critical distance below which tidal forces dominate count for the various anomalies of ‘Oumuamua, such as the
over centrifugal is unusual geometry inferred from its lightcurve (Meech et al.
2017; Fraser et al. 2018; Drahus et al. 2018; Belton et al.
GM 1/3 M 1/3
Rtid = = 3.4Ω−4
−2/3
R . (22) 2018), its low thermal emission, suggesting high reflectivity
Ω2 M (Trilling et al. 2018), and its deviation from a Keplerian or-
bit (Micheli et al. 2018) without any sign of a cometary tail
Thus, unless ‘Oumuamua encountered an extremely close ap- (Meech et al. 2017; Knight et al. 2017; Jewitt et al. 2017;
proach to a star in its past, it is unlikely that tidal forces played Ye et al. 2017; Fitzsimmons et al. 2017) or spin-up torques
any significant role. (Rafikov 2018). Although ‘Oumuamua has a red surface
5. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION color, similar to organic-rich surfaces of Solar-System comets
and D-type asteroids (Meech et al. 2017), this does not con-
We have shown that the observed non-gravitational accel-
tradict the artificial scenario, since irrespective of the object’s
eration of ‘Oumuamua, may be explained by Solar radia-
composition, as it travels through the ISM its surface will be
tion pressure. This requires a small mass-to-area ratio for
covered by a layer of interstellar dust, which is itself com-
‘Oumuamua of (m/A) ≈ 0.1 g cm−3 . For a planar geome- posed of organic-rich materials (Draine 2003).
try and typical mass densities of 1–3 g cm−3 this gives an Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that ‘Oumuamua
effective width of only 0.9–0.3 mm, respectively. For a ma- may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth
terial with lower mass density, the inferred effective width is vicinity by an alien civilization. Based on the PAN-STARRS1
proportionally larger. We find that although very thin, such survey characteristics, and assuming natural origins following
an object can travel over galactic distances, maintaining its random trajectories, Do et al. (2018) derived that the inter-
momentum and withstanding collisional destruction by dust- stellar number density of ‘Oumuamua-like objects should be
grains and gas, as well as centrifugal and tidal forces. For extremely high, ∼ 2 × 1015 pc−3 , equivalent to ∼ 1015 ejected
‘Oumuamua, the limiting factor is the slow-down by accu-
planetisimals per star, and a factor of 100 to 108 larger than
mulated ISM mass, which limits its maximal travel distance
predicted by theoretical models (Moro-Martin et al. 2009).
to ∼ 10 kpc (for a mean ISM particle density of ∼ 1 cm−3 ).
This discrepancy is readily solved if ‘Oumuamua does not
Our inferred thin geometry is consistent with studies of its
follow a random trajectory but is rather a targeted probe. In-
tumbling motion. In particular, Belton et al. (2018) inferred
terestingly, ‘Oumuamua’s entry velocity is found to be ex-
that ‘Oumuamua is likely to be an extremely oblate spheroid
tremely close to the velocity of the Local Standard of Rest, in
(pancake) assuming that it is excited by external torques to its
a kinematic region that is occupied by less than 1 to 500 stars
highest energy state.
(Mamajek 2017).
While our scenario may naturally explains the peculiar ac-
Since it is too late to image ‘Oumuamua with existing tele-
celeration of ‘Oumuamua, it opens up the question what kind
scopes or chase it with chemical rockets (Seligman & Laugh-
of object might have such a small mass-to-area ratio? The ob-
lin 2018), its likely origin and mechanical properties could
servations are not sufficiently sensitive to provide a resolved
only be deciphered by searching for other objects of its type
image of ‘Oumuamua, and one can only speculate on its pos-
in the future. In addition to the vast unbound population,
sible geometry and nature. Although periodic variations in the
thousands of interstellar ‘Oumuamua-like space-debris are
apparent magnitude are observed, there are still too many de-
expected to be trapped at any given time in the Solar Sys-
grees of freedom (e.g., observing angle, non-uniform reflec-
tem through gravitational interaction with Jupiter and the Sun
tively, etc.) to definitely constrain the geometry. The geom-
(Lingam & Loeb 2018). Deep wide-area surveys of the type
etry should not necessarily be that of a planar sheet, but may
acquire other shapes, e.g., involving a curved sheet, a hollow 2 A list of books and papers on lightsails is provided in
cone or ellipsoidal, etc. Depending on the geometry our es-
http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/research/3. The IKAROS project is
timated value for the mass-to-area ratio will change (through discussed in http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/ikaros/.
CR in Eq. 5), but the correction is typically of order unity. 3 Note that ‘Oumuamua was found not to show any radio emission down
Known Solar System objects, like asteroids and comets to a fraction of the power of a cell phone transmission (Enriquez et al. 2018;
have mass-to-area ratios orders of magnitude larger than our Tingay et al. 2018; Harp et al. 2018).
5
expected with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)4 We thank Manasvi Lingam, Paul Duffell, Quanzhi Ye, and
will be particularly powerful in searching for additional mem- an anonymous referee for helpful comments. This work was
bers of ‘Oumuamua’s population of objects. supported in part by a grant from the Breakthrough Prize
A survey for lightsails as technosiganures in the Solar Sys- Foundation.
tem is warranted, irrespective of whether ‘Oumuamua is one
of them.
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