On the Anomalous Acceleration of 1I/2017 U1 'Oumuamua

Abstract

We show that the P ~ 8 hr photometric period and the astrometrically measured A_(ng) ~ 2.5 × 10^(−4) cm s^(−2) non-gravitational acceleration (at r ~ 1.4 au) of the interstellar object 1I/2017 ('Oumuamua) can be explained by a nozzle-like venting of volatiles whose activity migrated to track the subsolar location on the object's surface. Adopting the assumption that 'Oumuamua was an elongated a × b × c ellipsoid, this model produces a pendulum-like rotation of the body and implies a long semi-axis a ∼ 5 A_(ng)P^2/4π^2 ∼ 260 m. This scale agrees with the independent estimates of 'Oumuamua's size that stem from its measured brightness, assuming an albedo of p ~ 0.1, which is appropriate for ices that have undergone long-duration exposure to the interstellar cosmic-ray flux. Using ray tracing, we generate light curves for ellipsoidal bodies that are subject to both physically consistent subsolar torques and to the time-varying geometry of the Sun–Earth–'Oumuamua configuration. Our synthetic light curves display variations from chaotic tumbling and changing cross-sectional illumination that are consistent with the observations, while avoiding significant secular changes in the photometric periodicity. If our model is correct, 'Oumuamua experienced mass loss that wasted ~10% of its total mass during the ~100 days span of its encounter with the inner solar system and had an icy composition with a very low [C/O] ≲ 0.003. Our interpretation of 'Oumuamua's behavior is consistent with the hypothesis that it was ejected from either the outer regions of a planetesimal disk after an encounter with an embedded M_p ~ M_(Nep) planet, or from an exo-Oort cloud.