Origin of 1I/’Oumuamua. II. An Ejected Exo-Oort Cloud Object?

Abstract

Abstract 1I/’Oumuamua is the first detected interstellar interloper. We test the hypothesis that it is representative of a background population of exo-Oort cloud objects ejected under the effect of post-main sequence mass loss and stellar encounters. We do this by comparing the cumulative number density of interstellar objects inferred from the detection of 1I/’Oumuamua to that expected from these two clearing processes. We consider the 0.08–8 M ⊙ mass range, take into account the dependencies with stellar mass, Galactocentric distance, and evolutionary state, and consider a wide range of size distributions for the ejected objects. Our conclusion is that 1I/’Oumuamua is likely not representative of this background population, even though there are large uncertainties in the masses and size distributions of the exo-Oort Clouds. We discuss whether the number density of free-floating, planetary-mass objects derived from gravitational microlensing surveys could be used as a discriminating measurement regarding 1I/’Oumuamua’s origin (given their potential common origin). We conclude that this is challenged by the mass limitation of the surveys and the resulting uncertainty of the mass distribution of the free floaters. The detection of interlopers may be one of the few observational constraints of the small end of this population, with the caveat that, as we conclude here and in Moro-Martín (2018), in the case of 1I/’Oumuamua, it might not be appropriate to assume this object is representative of an isotropic background population, which makes the derivation of a number density very challenging.