THE ROLE OF PLANET ACCRETION IN CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RED GIANT RAPID ROTATORS
THE ROLE OF PLANET ACCRETION IN CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RED GIANT RAPID ROTATORS
Rapid rotation in field red giant stars is a relatively rare but well-studied phenomenon; here we investigate the potential role of planet accretion in spinning up these stars. Using Zahn's theory of tidal friction and stellar evolution models, we compute the decay of a planet's orbit into its evolving host …