iPTF16geu Goobar, A.; Amanullah, R.; Kulkarni, S. R. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
04/2017, Letnik:
356, Številka:
6335
Journal Article
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We report the discovery of a multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova, iPTF16geu (SN 2016geu), at redshift z = 0.409. This phenomenon was identified because the light from the ...stellar explosion was magnified more than 50 times by the curvature of space around matter in an intervening galaxy. We used high-spatial-resolution observations to resolve four images of the lensed supernova, approximately 0.3 arc seconds from the center of the foreground galaxy. The observations probe a physical scale of ~1 kiloparsec, smaller than is typical in other studies of extragalactic gravitational lensing. The large magnification and symmetric image configuration imply close alignment between the lines of sight to the supernova and to the lens. The relative magnifications of the four images provide evidence for substructures in the lensing galaxy.
Planetary rings are observed not only around giant planets
, but also around small bodies such as the Centaur Chariklo
and the dwarf planet Haumea
. Up to now, all known dense rings were located ...close enough to their parent bodies, being inside the Roche limit, where tidal forces prevent material with reasonable densities from aggregating into a satellite. Here we report observations of an inhomogeneous ring around the trans-Neptunian body (50000) Quaoar. This trans-Neptunian object has an estimated radius
of 555 km and possesses a roughly 80-km satellite
(Weywot) that orbits at 24 Quaoar radii
. The detected ring orbits at 7.4 radii from the central body, which is well outside Quaoar's classical Roche limit, thus indicating that this limit does not always determine where ring material can survive. Our local collisional simulations show that elastic collisions, based on laboratory experiments
, can maintain a ring far away from the body. Moreover, Quaoar's ring orbits close to the 1/3 spin-orbit resonance
with Quaoar, a property shared by Chariklo's
and Haumea's
rings, suggesting that this resonance plays a key role in ring confinement for small bodies.
Context. The debris disk surrounding β Pictoris has been observed with ALMA to contain a belt of CO gas with a distinct peak at ~85 au. This CO clump is thought to be the result of a region of ...enhanced density of solids that collide and release CO through vaporisation. The parent bodies are thought to be comparable to solar system comets, in which CO is trapped inside a water ice matrix. Aims. Since H2O should be released along with CO, we aim to put an upper limit on the H2O gas mass in the disk of β Pictoris. Methods. We used archival data from the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) aboard the Herschel Space Observatory to study the ortho-H2O 110–101 emission line. The line is undetected. Using a python implementation of the radiative transfer code RADEX, we converted upper limits on the line flux to H2O gas masses. The resulting lower limits on the CO/H2O mass ratio are compared to the composition of solar system comets. Results. Depending on the assumed gas spatial distribution, we find a 95% upper limit on the ortho-H2O line flux of 7.5 × 10−20 W m−2 or 1.2 × 10−19 W m−2. These translate into an upper limit on the H2O mass of 7.4 × 1016–1.1 × 1018 kg depending on both the electron density and gas kinetic temperature. The range of derived gas-phase CO/H2O ratios is marginally consistent with low-ratio solar system comets.
Context. The dusty debris disk around the ~20 Myr old main-sequence A-star β Pictoris is known to contain gas. Evidence points towards a secondary origin of the gas as opposed to being a direct ...remnant from the initial protoplanetary disk, although the dominant gas production mechanism is so far not identified. The origin of the observed overabundance of C and O compared with solar abundances of metallic elements such as Na and Fe is also unclear. Aims. Our goal is to constrain the spatial distribution of C in the disk, and thereby the gas origin and its abundance pattern. Methods. We used the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel Space Observatory to observe and spectrally resolve C ii emission at 158 μm from the β Pic debris disk. Assuming a disk in Keplerian rotation and a model for the line emission from the disk, we used the spectrally resolved line profile to constrain the spatial distribution of the gas. Results. We detect the C ii 158 μm emission. Modelling the shape of the emission line shows that most of the gas is located at about ~100 AU or beyond. We estimate a total C gas mass of 1.3-0.5+1.3 × 10-2 M⊕ (central 90% confidence interval). The data suggest that more gas is located on the south-west side of the disk than on the north-east side. The shape of the emission line is consistent with the hypothesis of a well mixed gas (constant C/Fe ratio throughout the disk). Assuming instead a spatial profile expected from a simplified accretion disk model, we found it to give a significantly poorer fit to the observations. Conclusions. Since the bulk of the gas is found outside 30 AU, we argue that the cometary objects known as “falling evaporating bodies” are probably not the dominant source of gas; production from grain-grain collisions or photodesorption seems more likely. The incompatibility of the observations with a simplified accretion disk model might favour a preferential depletion explanation for the overabundance of C and O, although it is unclear how much this conclusion is affected by the simplifications made. More stringent constraints on the spatial distribution will be available from ALMA observations of C i emission at 609 μm.
Aims. We put theoretical constraints on the presence and survival of icy grains in debris discs. Particular attention is paid to UV sputtering of water ice, which has so far not been studied in ...detail in this context. Methods. We present a photosputtering model based on available experimental and theoretical studies. We quantitatively estimate the erosion rate of icy and ice-silicate grains, under the influence of both sublimation and photosputtering, as a function of grain size, composition and distance from the star. The effect of erosion on the grains location is investigated through numerical simulations coupling the grain size to its dynamical evolution. Results. Our model predicts that photodesorption efficiently destroy ice in optically thin discs, even far beyond the sublimation snow line. For the reference case of \beta Pictoris, we find that only \ga5 mm grains can keep their icy component for the age of the system in the 50-150 AU region. When taking into account the collisional reprocessing of grains, we show that the water ice survival on grains improves (grains down to \simeq20 \mum might be partially icy). However, estimates of the amount of gas photosputtering would produce on such a hypothetical population of big icy grains lead to values for the O I column density that strongly exceed observational constraints for \beta Pic, thus ruling out the presence of a significant amount of icy grains in this system. Erosion rates and icy grains survival timescales are also given for a set of 11 other debris disc systems. We show that, with the possible exception of M stars, photosputtering cannot be neglected in calculations of icy grain lifetimes.
Context. Fomalhaut is a young (2 +/- 1 x 10(8) years), nearby (7.7 pc), 2 M-circle dot star that is suspected to harbor an infant planetary system, interspersed with one or more belts of dusty ...debris. Aims. We present far-infrared images obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory with an angular resolution between 5.7 '' and 36.7 '' at wavelengths between 70 mu m and 500 mu m. The images show the main debris belt in great detail. Even at high spatial resolution, the belt appears smooth. The region in between the belt and the central star is not devoid of material; thermal emission is observed here as well. Also at the location of the star, excess emission is detected. We aim to construct a consistent image of the Fomalhaut system. Methods. We use a dynamical model together with radiative-transfer tools to derive the parameters of the debris disk. We include detailed models of the interaction of the dust grains with radiation, for both the radiation pressure and the temperature determination. Comparing these models to the spatially resolved temperature information contained in the images allows us to place strong constraints on the presence of grains that will be blown out of the system by radiation pressure. We use this to derive the dynamical parameters of the system. Results. The appearance of the belt points toward a remarkably active system in which dust grains are produced at a very high rate by a collisional cascade in a narrow region filled with dynamically excited planetesimals. Dust particles with sizes below the blow-out size are abundantly present. The equivalent of 2000 one-km-sized comets are destroyed every day, out of a cometary reservoir amounting to 110 Earth masses. From comparison of their scattering and thermal properties, we find evidence that the dust grains are fluffy aggregates, which indicates a cometary origin. The excess emission at the location of the star may be produced by hot dust with a range of temperatures, but may also be due to gaseous free-free emission from a stellar wind.
VLT imaging of the β Pictoris gas disk Nilsson, R.; Brandeker, A.; Olofsson, G. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
08/2012, Letnik:
544
Journal Article
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Context. Circumstellar debris disks older than a few Myr should be largely devoid of primordial gas remaining from the protoplanetary disk phase. Tracing the origin of observed atomic gas in ...Keplerian rotation in the edge-on debris disk surrounding the ~12 Myr old star β Pictoris requires more detailed information about its spatial distribution than has previously been acquired by limited slit spectroscopy. Especially indications of asymmetries and presence of Ca ii gas at high disk latitudes call for additional investigation to exclude or confirm its connection to observed dust structures or suggested cometary bodies on inclined eccentric orbits. Aims. We set out to recover a complete image of the Fe i and Ca ii gas emission around β Pic by spatially resolved, high-resolution spectroscopic observations to better understand the morphology and origin of the gaseous disk component. Methods. The multiple fiber facility FLAMES/GIRAFFE at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), with the large integral-field-unit ARGUS, was used to obtain spatially resolved optical spectra (from 385.9 to 404.8 nm) in four regions covering the northeast and southwest side of the disk. Emission lines from Fe i (at 386.0 nm) and Ca ii (at 393.4 and 396.8 nm) were mapped and could be used to fit a parametric function for the disk gas distribution, using a gas-ionisation code for gas-poor debris disks. Results. Both Fe i and Ca ii emission are clearly detected, with the former dominating along the disk midplane, and the latter revealing vertically more extended gas. The surface intensity of the Fe i emission is lower but more extended in the northeast (reaching the 210 AU limit of our observations) than in the southwest, while Ca ii shows the opposite asymmetry. The modelled Fe gas disk profile shows a linear increase in scale height with radius, and a vertical profile that suggests dynamical interaction with the dust. We also qualitatively demonstrate that the Ca ii emission profile can be explained by optical thickness in the disk midplane, and does not require Ca to be spatially separated from Fe.
Context. The 440 Myr old main-sequence A-star Fomalhaut is surrounded by an eccentric debris belt with sharp edges. This sort of a morphology is usually attributed to planetary perturbations, but the ...orbit of the only planetary candidate detected so far, Fomalhaut b, is too eccentric to efficiently shape the belt. Alternative models that could account for the morphology without invoking a planet are stellar encounters and gas-dust interactions. Aims. We aim to test the possibility of gas-dust interactions as the origin of the observed morphology by putting upper limits on the total gas content of the Fomalhaut belt. Methods. We derive upper limits on the CII158 microns and OI 63 microns emission by using non-detections from the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. Line fluxes are converted into total gas mass using the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) code radex. We consider two different cases for the elemental abundances of the gas: solar abundances and abundances similar to those observed for the gas in the Beta Pictoris debris disc. Results. The gas mass is shown to be below the millimetre dust mass by a factor of at least approx. 3 (for solar abundances) respectively approx. 300 (for Beta Pic-like abundances). Conclusions. The lack of gas co-spatial with the dust implies that gas-dust interactions cannot efficiently shape the Fomalhaut debris belt. The morphology is therefore more likely due to a yet unseen planet (Fomalhaut c) or stellar encounters.
Kuiper belts around nearby stars Nilsson, R.; Liseau, R.; Brandeker, A. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
07/2010, Letnik:
518, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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Context. The existence of dusty debris disks around a large fraction of solar type main-sequence stars, inferred from excess far-IR and submillimetre emission compared to that expected from stellar ...photospheres, suggests that leftover planetesimal belts analogous to the asteroid- and comet reservoirs of the solar system are common. Aims. Sensitive submillimetre observations are essential to detect and characterise cold extended dust originating from collisions of small bodies in disks, belts, or rings at Kuiper-belt distances (30–50 AU or beyond). Measurements of the flux densities at these wavelengths will extend existing IR photometry and permit more detailed modelling of the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of the disks spectral energy distribution (SED), effectively constraining dust properties and disk extensions. By observing stars spanning from a few up to several hundred Myr, the evolution of debris disks during crucial phases of planet formation can be studied. Methods. We observed 22 exo-Kuiper-belt candidates at 870 μm, as part of a large programme with the LABOCA bolometer at the APEX telescope. Dust masses (or upper limits) were calculated from integrated 870 μm fluxes, and fits to the SED of detected sources revealed the fractional dust luminosities $f_{\mathrm{dust}}$, dust temperatures $T_{\mathrm{dust}}$, and power-law exponents β of the opacity law. Results. A total of 10 detections with at least 3σ significance were made, out of which five (HD 95086, HD 131835, HD 161868, HD 170773, and HD 207129) have previously never been detected at submillimetre wavelengths. Three additional sources are marginally detected with > 2.5σ significance. The best-fit β parameters all lie between 0.1 and 0.8, in agreement with previous results indicating the presence of significantly larger grains than those in the ISM. From our relatively small sample we estimate $f_{\mathrm{dust}}$ $\propto$ $t^{-\alpha}$, with α ~ 0.8–2.0, and identify an evolution of the characteristic radial dust distance $R_{\mathrm{dust}}$ that is consistent with the $t^{1/3}$ increase predicted from models of self-stirred collisions in debris disks.
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