Sublimation Budgets and Gas–Dust Production Rates of 3I/ATLAS

 



Sublimation Budgets and Mass Loss in Interstellar Comets: Physical Constraints from 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)

Quantifying sublimation and mass loss is fundamental to linking the observed activity of interstellar comets to their underlying physical structure, composition, and thermal history. For 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1), measurements and limits on gas–dust production rates provide direct constraints on volatile content, surface processing, and the mechanisms regulating activity as the object traverses the inner Solar System.

Full text (open access):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398431066

Why Sublimation Budgets Matter for Interstellar Comets

Unlike Solar System comets with long observational histories, interstellar comets are detected only during brief flythroughs. In these cases, sublimation budget analysis becomes a primary diagnostic tool for understanding:

  • Volatile abundance and distribution
  • Dust mantle development
  • Thermal conductivity and porosity
  • Long-term evolutionary processing in extrasolar environments

By quantifying both gaseous and particulate mass loss, sublimation budgets connect observable coma properties to nucleus-scale physics.

Inferring Gas and Dust Production in 3I/ATLAS

For 3I/ATLAS, sublimation budgets were inferred by combining multiple observational constraints rather than relying on a single detection channel. This integrated approach is particularly important for weakly active or moderately active interstellar comets.

Photometric and Spectroscopic Constraints

Upper limits on molecular emission derived from spectroscopic non-detections were translated into gas production rates using standard coma excitation and expansion frameworks. These limits constrain volatile release even in the absence of strong emission features.

Dust Brightness and Morphology

Simultaneously, photometric measurements of dust brightness and coma morphology constrained the solid component of mass loss, providing estimates of dust production rates and outflow behavior.

Physically Motivated Inversion Models

Gas and dust constraints were combined through inversion models grounded in cometary physics, yielding self-consistent sublimation budgets across the observed heliocentric range.

Together, these methods indicate modest gas production, consistent with the presence of a resolved but moderate coma rather than extreme or explosive activity.

Gas–Dust Ratios and Activity Regimes

The inferred gas–dust ratios for 3I/ATLAS suggest a dust-dominated outflow regime, similar to that observed in many Jupiter-family comets. This behavior carries important physical implications:

  • Near-surface volatiles may be partially depleted
  • Insulating dust mantles may suppress sublimation efficiency
  • Gas release may be regulated rather than runaway

Such characteristics point to controlled, thermally driven activity rather than impulsive mass loss events.

Smooth Evolution with Heliocentric Distance

A key result of the sublimation analysis is that production rates evolve smoothly with heliocentric distance. This behavior strongly supports a solar-driven thermal model in which activity responds gradually to increasing insolation, rather than being triggered by localized structural failure or episodic outbursts.

This smooth evolution enhances confidence in the physical interpretation of the activity and reinforces the reliability of the inferred sublimation budgets.

What Sublimation Budgets Reveal About Nucleus Properties

By constraining both gaseous and particulate mass loss, sublimation budget analysis provides insight into:

  • Nucleus composition and volatile inventory
  • Surface layering and dust mantle thickness
  • Internal porosity and heat transport
  • Evolutionary processing prior to Solar System entry

For 3I/ATLAS, these constraints place the object within a broader continuum of cometary behavior, bridging Solar System comets and other known interstellar visitors.

Implications for Comparative Interstellar Comet Studies

As additional interstellar comets are detected, comparative gas–dust production studies will be central to understanding the diversity of extrasolar planetesimals. The methodology applied to 3I/ATLAS demonstrates how even limited observational windows can yield meaningful physical constraints when analyzed within a coherent sublimation framework.

Such studies will be essential for distinguishing between primordial composition differences and evolutionary surface processing across planetary systems.

This Article Examines

  • How gas and dust production rates are inferred from observational limits
  • What sublimation budgets reveal about volatile content and surface processing
  • Why dust-dominated outflows imply regulated, thermally driven activity
  • The role of production-rate studies in interstellar comet physics

Reference (APA 7):
Kodiyatar, N., & Shamala, A. (2025). Scientific understanding of 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1): Authentic data, observational insights, and information ethics. Nohil Kodiyatar & Abhay Shamala. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17851223

#InterstellarObjects #3IATLAS #CometPhysics #Sublimation #PlanetaryScience #Astrophysics #ObservationalAstronomy #OpenScience


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