1I/'Oumuamua as an N2 Ice Fragment of an Exo-Pluto Surface II: Generation of N2 Ice Fragments and the Origin of 'Oumuamua

The origin of the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua has defied explanation. In a companion paper (Jackson & Desch, 2021), we show that a body of N-2 ice with axes 45 m x 44 m x 7.5 m at the time of observation would be consistent with its albedo, nongravitational acceleration, and lack of observed CO or CO2 or dust. Here we demonstrate that impacts on the surfaces of Pluto-like Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) would have generated and ejected similar to 10(14) collisional fragments-roughly half of them H2O ice fragments and half of them N-2 ice fragments-due to the dynamical instability that depleted the primordial Kuiper belt. We show consistency between these numbers and the frequency with which we would observe interstellar objects like 1I/'Oumuamua, and more comet-like objects like 2I/Borisov, if other stellar systems eject such objects with efficiency like that of the Sun; we infer that differentiated KBOs and dynamical instabilities that eject impact-generated fragments may be near-universal among extrasolar systems. Galactic cosmic rays would erode such fragments over 4.5 Gyr, so that fragments are a small fraction (similar to 0.1%) of long-period Oort comets, but C/2016 R2 may be an example. We estimate 'Oumuamua was ejected about 0.4-0.5 Gyr ago, from a young (similar to 10(8) yr) stellar system, which we speculate was in the Perseus arm. Objects like 'Oumuamua may directly probe the surface compositions of a hitherto-unobserved type of exoplanet: exo-Plutos. 'Oumuamua may be the first sample of an exoplanet brought to us.

Automated summary

The paper explores the origin of the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua, suggesting it may have originated from impact-generated fragments due to the dynamical instability that occurred in the primordial Kuiper belt, a phenomenon that may be common in other extrasolar systems. It also proposes that interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua may provide insights into a previously unobserved type of exoplanet: exo-Plutos.