Abstract
This paper presents a study of circumstellar debris around Sun-like stars using data from the Herschel DEBRIS Key Programme. DEBRIS is an unbiased survey comprising the nearest ∼90 stars of ...each spectral type A-M. Analysis of the 275 F-K stars shows that excess emission from a debris disc was detected around 47 stars, giving a detection rate of 17.1$^{+2.6}_{-2.3}$ per cent, with lower rates for later spectral types. For each target a blackbody spectrum was fitted to the dust emission to determine its fractional luminosity and temperature. The derived underlying distribution of fractional luminosity versus blackbody radius in the population showed that most detected discs are concentrated at f ∼ 10−5 and at temperatures corresponding to blackbody radii 7–40 au, which scales to ∼40 au for realistic dust properties (similar to the current Kuiper belt). Two outlying populations are also evident; five stars have exceptionally bright emission ( f > 5 × 10−5), and one has unusually hot dust <4 au. The excess emission distributions at all wavelengths were fitted with a steady-state evolution model, showing that these are compatible with all stars being born with a narrow belt that then undergoes collisional grinding. However, the model cannot explain the hot dust systems – likely originating in transient events – and bright emission systems – arising potentially from atypically massive discs or recent stirring. The emission from the present-day Kuiper belt is predicted to be close to the median of the population, suggesting that half of stars have either depleted their Kuiper belts (similar to the Solar system) or had a lower planetesimal formation efficiency.
We present a study of debris discs whose spectra are well modelled by dust emission at two different temperatures. These discs are typically assumed to be a sign of multiple belts, which in only a ...few cases have been confirmed via high-resolution observations. We first compile a sample of two-temperature discs to derive their properties, summarized by the ratios of the warm and cool component temperatures and fractional luminosities. The ratio of warm to cool temperatures is constant in the range 2–4, and the temperature of both warm and cool components increases with stellar mass. We then explore whether this emission can arise from dust in a single narrow belt, with the range of temperatures arising from the size variation of grain temperatures. This model can produce two-temperature spectra for Sun-like stars, but is not supported where it can be tested by observed disc sizes and far-infrared/mm spectral slopes. Therefore, while some two-temperature discs arise from single belts, it is probable that most have multiple spatial components. These discs are plausibly similar to the outer Solar system's configuration of Asteroid and Edgeworth–Kuiper belts separated by giant planets. Alternatively, the inner component could arise from inward scattering of material from the outer belt, again due to intervening planets. In either case, we suggest that the ratio of warm/cool component temperatures is indicative of the scale of outer planetary systems, which typically span a factor of about 10 in radius.
We present the first characterisation of the 12 μm warm dust ('exo-Zodi') luminosity function around Sun-like stars, focusing on the dustiest systems that can be identified by the WISE mission. We ...use the sample of main-sequence stars observed by Hipparcos within 150 pc as an unbiased sample, and report the detection of six new warm dust candidates. The ages of five of these new sources are unknown, meaning that they may be sites of terrestrial planet formation or rare analogues of other old warm dust systems. We show that the dustiest old (>Gyr) systems such as BD+20 307 are 1 in 10 000 occurrences. Bright warm dust is much more common around young (<120 Myr) systems, with a ∼1 per cent occurrence rate. We show that a two component in situ model, where all stars have initially massive warm discs and in which warm debris is also generated at some random time along the stars' main-sequence lifetime, perhaps due to a collision, can explain the observations. However, if all stars have only initially massive warm discs, then these would not be visible at Gyr ages, and random collisions on the main sequence are too infrequent to explain the high disc occurrence rate for young stars. That is, neither of the components can explain the observations on their own. Despite these conclusions, we cannot rule out an alternative dynamical model in which comets are scattered in from outer regions because the distribution of systems with the appropriate dynamics is unknown. Our in situ model predicts that the fraction of stars with exo-Zodi bright enough to cause problems for future exo-Earth imaging attempts is at least roughly 10 per cent, and is higher for populations of stars younger than a few Gyr. This prediction of roughly 10 per cent also applies to old stars because bright systems like BD+20 307 imply a population of fainter systems that were once bright, but are now decaying through fainter levels. Our prediction should be strongly tested by the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer, which will provide valuable constraints and input for more detailed evolution models. A detection fraction lower than our prediction could indicate that the hot dust in systems like BD+20 307 has a cometary origin due to the quirks of the planetary dynamics. Population models of comet delivery need to be developed to help distinguish between different possible origins of warm dust.
Planet Hunters IX. KIC 8462852 – where's the flux? Boyajian, T. S; LaCourse, D. M; Rappaport, S. A ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
04/2016, Volume:
457, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Over the duration of the Kepler mission, KIC 8462852 was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux of up to ∼20 per cent. The dipping activity can last for between 5 and 80 d. We ...characterize the object with high-resolution spectroscopy, spectral energy distribution fitting, radial velocity measurements, high-resolution imaging, and Fourier analyses of the Kepler light curve. We determine that KIC 8462852 is a typical main-sequence F3 V star that exhibits no significant IR excess, and has no very close interacting companions. In this paper, we describe various scenarios to explain the dipping events observed in the Kepler light curve. We confirm that the dipping signals in the data are not caused by any instrumental or data processing artefact, and thus are astrophysical in origin. We construct scenario-independent constraints on the size and location of a body in the system that are needed to reproduce the observations. We deliberate over several assorted stellar and circumstellar astrophysical scenarios, most of which have problems explaining the data in hand. By considering the observational constraints on dust clumps in orbit around a normal main-sequence star, we conclude that the scenario most consistent with the data in hand is the passage of a family of exocomet or planetesimal fragments, all of which are associated with a single previous break-up event, possibly caused by tidal disruption or thermal processing. The minimum total mass associated with these fragments likely exceeds 10−6 M⊕, corresponding to an original rocky body of >100 km in diameter. We discuss the necessity of future observations to help interpret the system.
While most of the known debris discs present cold dust at tens of astronomical unit (au), a few young systems exhibit hot dust analogous to the Zodiacal dust. ... Corvi is particularly interesting as ...it is old and it has both, with its hot dust significantly exceeding the maximum luminosity of an in situ collisional cascade. Previous work suggested that this system could be undergoing an event similar to the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) soon after or during a dynamical instability. Here, we present ALMA observations of ... Corvi with a resolution of 1.2 arcsec (~22 au) to study its outer belt. The continuum emission is consistent with an axisymmetric belt, with a mean radius of 152 au and radial full width at half-maximum of 46 au, which is too narrow compared to models of inward scattering of an LHB-like scenario. Instead, the hot dust could be explained as material passed inwards in a rather stable planetary configuration. We also report a 4s detection of CO at ~20 au. CO could be released in situ from icy planetesimals being passed in when crossing the H2O or CO2 ice lines. Finally, we place constraints on hidden planets in the disc. If a planet is sculpting the disc's inner edge, this should be orbiting at 75-100 au, with a mass of 3-30 M... and an eccentricity <0.08. Such a planet would be able to clear its chaotic zone on a time-scale shorter than the age of the system and scatter material inwards from the outer belt to the inner regions, thus feeding the hot dust. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Since the 1980s it has been becoming increasingly clear that the Solar system's irregular satellites are collisionally evolved. The current populations are remnants of much more massive swarms that ...have been grinding away for billions of years. Here, we derive a general model for the collisional evolution of an irregular satellite swarm and apply it to the Solar system and extrasolar planets. The model uses a particle-in-a-box formalism and considers implications for the size distribution, which allows a connection between irregular satellite populations and predicted levels in the resulting dust cloud. Our model reproduces the Solar system's complement of observed irregulars well, and suggests that the competition between grain-grain collisions and Poynting-Robertson (PR) drag helps set the fate of the dust. In collision-dominated swarms most dust is lost to interplanetary space or impacts the host planet, while PR-dominated grains spiral in towards the planet through the domain of regular satellites. Because swarm collision rates decrease over time the main dust sink can change with time, and may help unravel the accretion history of synchronously rotating regular satellites that show brightness asymmetries, such as Callisto and Iapetus. Some level of dust must be present on au scales around the Solar system's giant planets if the irregular satellites are still grinding down, which we predict may be at detectable levels. We also use our model to predict whether dust produced by extrasolar circumplanetary swarms can be detected. Though designed with planets in mind, the coronagraphic instruments on James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will have the ability to detect the dust generated by these swarms, which are most detectable around planets that orbit at many tens of au from the youngest stars. Because the collisional decay of swarms is relatively insensitive to planet mass, swarms can be much brighter than their host planets and allow discovery of Neptune-mass planets that would otherwise remain invisible. This dust could have been detected by Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST ACS) coronagraphic observations, and in one case dust may have already been detected. The observations of the planet Fomalhaut b can be explained as scattered light from dust produced by the collisional decay of an irregular satellite swarm around a ∼10 M⊕ planet. Such a swarm comprises about 5 lunar masses worth of irregular satellites. Finally, we briefly consider what happens if Fomalhaut b passes through Fomalhaut's main debris ring on a coplanar orbit, which allows the circumplanetary swarm to be replenished through collisions with ring planetesimals. This scenario, in which the planet is at least of the order of an Earth mass, may be ruled out by the narrow structure of the debris ring.
We present resolved Herschel images of a circumbinary debris disc in the 99 Herculis system. The primary is a late F-type star. The binary orbit is well characterized and we conclude that the disc is ...misaligned with the binary plane. Two different models can explain the observed structure. The first model is a ring of polar orbits that move in a plane perpendicular to the binary pericentre direction. We favour this interpretation because it includes the effect of secular perturbations and the disc can survive for Gyr time-scales. The second model is a misaligned ring. Because there is an ambiguity in the orientation of the ring, which could be reflected in the sky plane, this ring either has near-polar orbits similar to the first model or has a 30° misalignment. The misaligned ring, interpreted as the result of a recent collision, is shown to be implausible from constraints on the collisional and dynamical evolution. Because disc+star systems with separations similar to 99 Herculis should form coplanar, possible formation scenarios involve either a close stellar encounter or binary exchange in the presence of circumstellar and/or circumbinary discs. Discovery and characterization of systems like 99 Herculis will help understand processes that result in planetary system misalignment around both single and multiple stars.
HIP 65426 b is a recently discovered exoplanet imaged during the course of the SPHERE-SHINE survey. Here we present new L′ and M′ observations of the planet from the NACO instrument at the VLT from ...the NACO-ISPY survey, as well as a new Y –H spectrum and K-band photometry from SPHERE-SHINE. Using these data, we confirm the nature of the companion as a warm, dusty planet with a mid-L spectral type. From comparison of its SED with the BT-Settl atmospheric models, we derive a best-fit effective temperature of Teff = 1618 ± 7 K, surface gravity log g = 3.78−0.03+0.04 $\log g\,{=}\,3.78^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$logg = 3.78−0.03+0.04 and radius R = 1.17 ± 0.04RJ (statistical uncertainties only). Using the DUSTY and COND isochrones we estimate a mass of 8 ± 1MJ. Combining the astrometric measurements from our new datasets and from the literature, we show the first indications of orbital motion of the companion (2.6σ significance)and derive preliminary orbital constraints. We find a highly inclined orbit ( i = 1.07−10+13 $i\,{=}\,107^{+13}_{-10}$i = 107−10+13 deg) with an orbital period of 800−400+1200 $800^{+1200}_{-400}$800−400+1200 yr. We also report SPHERE sparse aperture masking observations that investigate the possibility that HIP 65426 b was scattered onto its current orbit by an additional companion at a smaller orbital separation. From this data we rule out the presence of brown dwarf companions with masses greater than 16 MJ at separations larger than 3 AU, significantly narrowing the parameter space for such a companion.
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Are debris discs self-stirred? Kennedy, G. M.; Wyatt, M. C.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
06/2010, Volume:
405, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper aims to consider the evidence that debris discs are self-stirred by the formation of Pluto-size objects. A semi-analytical model for the dust produced during self-stirring is developed and ...applied to the statistics for A-stars. We show that there is no significant statistical difference between fractional excesses of A stars 50 Myr old, and therefore focus on reproducing the broad trends, the ‘rise and fall’ of the fraction of stars with excesses that the pre-stirred model of Wyatt et al. does not predict. Using a population model, we find that the statistics and trends can be reproduced with a self-stirring model of planetesimal belts with radius distribution between 15–120 au, with width dr=r/2. Discs must have this 15 au minimum radius in order to show a peak in disc fraction, rather than a monotonic decline. However, the marginal significance of the peak in the observations means that models with smaller minimum radii also formally fit the data. Populations of extended discs with fixed inner and/or outer radii fail to fit the statistics, due mainly to the slow 70 m evolution as stirring moves further out in the disc. This conclusion, that debris discs are narrow belts rather than extended discs, is independent of the significance of 24 m trends for young A-stars. Although the rise and fall is naturally explained by self-stirring, we show that the statistics can also be reproduced with a model in which discs are stirred by secular perturbations from a nearby eccentric planet. Detailed imaging, which can reveal warps, sharp edges and offsets in individual systems, is the best way to characterize the stirring mechanism. From a more detailed look at Pictoris Moving Group and TW Hydrae Association A-stars, we find that the disc around Pictoris is likely the result of secular stirring by the proposed planet at 10 au; the structure of the HR 4796A disc also points to sculpting by a planet. The two other stars with discs, HR 7012 and Tel, possess transient hot dust, though the outer Tel disc is consistent with a self-stirred origin. We suggest that planet formation provides a natural explanation for the belt-like nature of debris discs, with inner regions cleared by planets that may also stir the disc, and the outer edges set by where planetesimals can form.
Abstract
This paper shows how the dips and secular dimming in the KIC8462852 light curve can originate in circumstellar material distributed around a single elliptical orbit (e.g. exocomets). The ...expected thermal emission and wavelength dependent dimming is derived for different orbital parameters and geometries, including dust that is optically thick to stellar radiation, and for a size distribution of dust with realistic optical properties. We first consider dust distributed evenly around the orbit, then show how to derive its uneven distribution from the optical light curve and to predict light curves at different wavelengths. The fractional luminosity of an even distribution is approximately the level of dimming times stellar radius divided by distance from the star at transit. Non-detection of dust thermal emission for KIC8462852 thus provides a lower limit on the transit distance to complement the 0.6 au upper limit imposed by 0.4 d dips. Unless the dust distribution is optically thick, the putative 16 per cent century-long secular dimming must have disappeared before the WISE 12 μm measurement in 2010, and subsequent 4.5 μm observations require transits at >0.05 au. However, self-absorption of thermal emission removes these constraints for opaque dust distributions. The passage of dust clumps through pericentre is predicted to cause infrared brightening lasting tens of days and dimming during transit, such that total flux received decreases at wavelengths <5 μm, but increases to potentially detectable levels at longer wavelengths. We suggest that lower dimming levels than seen for KIC8462852 are more common in the Galactic population and may be detected in future transit surveys.
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