Evolution of Debris Disks Wyatt, Mark C
Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics,
01/2008, Letnik:
46, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Circumstellar dust exists around several hundred main sequence stars. For the youngest stars, that dust could be a remnant of the protoplanetary disk. Mostly it is inferred to be continuously ...replenished through collisions between planetesimals in belts analogous to the Solar System's asteroid and Kuiper belts, or in collisions between growing protoplanets. The evolution of a star's debris disk is indicative of the evolution of its planetesimal belts and may be influenced by planet formation processes, which can continue throughout the first gigayear as the planetary system settles to a stable configuration and planets form at large radii. Evidence for that evolution comes from infrared photometry of large numbers of debris disks, providing snapshots of the dust present at different evolutionary phases, as well as from images of debris disk structure. This review describes the theoretical framework within which debris disk evolution takes place and shows how that framework has been constrained by observations.
ABSTRACT
Despite being >10 Myr, there are ∼10 debris discs with as much CO gas as in protoplanetary discs. Such discs have been assumed to be ‘hybrid’, i.e. with secondary dust but primordial gas. ...Here, we show that both the dust and gas in such systems could instead be secondary, with the high CO content caused by accumulation of neutral carbon (C0) that shields CO from photodissociating; i.e. these could be ‘shielded secondary discs’. New ALMA observations are presented of HD131835 that detect ∼3 × 10−3 M⊕ of C0, the majority 40–200 au from the star, in sufficient quantity to shield the previously detected CO. A simple semi-analytic model for the evolution of CO, C, and O originating in a volatile-rich planetesimal belt shows how CO shielding becomes important when the viscous evolution is slow (low α parameter) and/or the CO production rate is high. Shielding by C0 may also cause the CO content to reach levels at which CO self-shields, and the gas disc may become massive enough to affect the dust evolution. Application to the HD 131835 observations shows these can be explained if α ∼ 10−3; an inner cavity in C0 and CO may also mean the system has yet to reach steady state. Application to other debris discs with high CO content finds general agreement for α = 10−3 to 0.1. The shielded secondary nature of these gas discs can be tested by searching for C0, as well as CN, N2, and CH+, which are also expected to be shielded by C0.
ABSTRACT
Debris belts on the periphery of planetary systems, encompassing the region occupied by planetary orbits, are massive analogues of the Solar system’s Kuiper belt. They are detected by ...thermal emission of dust released in collisions amongst directly unobservable larger bodies that carry most of the debris disc mass. We estimate the total mass of the discs by extrapolating up the mass of emitting dust with the help of collisional cascade models. The resulting mass of bright debris discs appears to be unrealistically large, exceeding the mass of solids available in the systems at the preceding protoplanetary stage. We discuss this ‘mass problem’ in detail and investigate possible solutions to it. These include uncertainties in the dust opacity and planetesimal strength, variation of the bulk density with size, steepening of the size distribution by damping processes, the role of the unknown ‘collisional age’ of the discs, and dust production in recent giant impacts. While we cannot rule out the possibility that a combination of these might help, we argue that the easiest solution would be to assume that planetesimals in systems with bright debris discs were ‘born small’, with sizes in the kilometre range, especially at large distances from the stars. This conclusion would necessitate revisions to the existing planetesimal formation models, and may have a range of implications for planet formation. We also discuss potential tests to constrain the largest planetesimal sizes and debris disc masses.
We consider the observational signatures of giant impacts between planetary embryos. While the debris released in the impact remains in a clump for only a single orbit, there is a much longer lasting ...asymmetry caused by the fact that all debris must pass through the collision-point. The resulting asymmetry is stationary, it does not orbit the star. The debris is concentrated in a clump at the collision-point, with a more diffuse structure on the opposite side. The asymmetry lasts for typically around 1000 orbital periods of the progenitor, which can be several Myr at distances of ∼50 au. We describe how the appearance of the asymmetric disc depends on the mass and eccentricity of the progenitor, as well as viewing orientation. The wavelength of observation, which determines the grain sizes probed, is also important. Notably, the increased collision rate of the debris at the collision-point makes this the dominant production site for any secondary dust and gas created. For dust small enough to be removed by radiation pressure, and gas with a short lifetime, this causes their distribution to resemble a jet emanating from the (stationary) collision-point. We suggest that the asymmetries seen at large separations in some debris discs, like Beta Pictoris, could be the result of giant impacts. If so, this would indicate that planetary embryos are present and continuing to grow at several tens of au at ages of up to tens of Myr.
Abstract
We study the evolution of debris created in the giant impacts expected during the final stages of terrestrial planet formation. The starting point is the debris created in a simulation of ...the Moon-forming impact. The dynamical evolution is followed for 10 Myr including the effects of Earth, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. The spatial distribution evolves from a clump in the first few months to an asymmetric ring for the first 10 kyr and finally becoming an axisymmetric ring by about 1 Myr after the impact. By 10 Myr after the impact 20 per cent of the particles have been accreted on to Earth and 17 per cent on to Venus, with 8 per cent ejected by Jupiter and other bodies playing minor roles. However, the fate of the debris also depends strongly on how fast it is collisionally depleted, which depends on the poorly constrained size distribution of the impact debris. Assuming that the debris is made up of 30 per cent by mass mm-cm-sized vapour condensates and 70 per cent boulders up to 500 km, we find that the condensates deplete rapidly on ∼1000 yr time-scales, whereas the boulders deplete predominantly dynamically. By considering the luminosity of dust produced in collisions within the boulder-debris distribution we find that the Moon-forming impact would have been readily detectable around other stars in Spitzer 24 μm surveys for around 25 Myr after the impact, with levels of emission comparable to many known hot dust systems. The vapour condensates meanwhile produce a short-lived, optically thick, spike of emission. We use these surveys to make an estimate of the fraction of stars that form terrestrial planets, F
TPF. Since current terrestrial planet formation models invoke multiple giant impacts, the low fraction of 10-100 Myr stars found to have warm (>rsim150 K) dust implies that per cent. For this number to be higher, it would require that either terrestrial planets are largely fully formed when the protoplanetary disc disperses, or that impact generated debris consists purely of sub-km objects such that its signature is short-lived.
ABSTRACT
π Men hosts a transiting super Earth (P ≈ 6.27 d, m ≈ 4.82 M⊕, R ≈ 2.04 R⊕) discovered by TESS and a cold Jupiter (P ≈ 2093 d, msin I ≈ 10.02 MJup, e ≈ 0.64) discovered from radial velocity. ...We use Gaia DR2 and Hipparcos astrometry to derive the star’s velocity caused by the orbiting planets and constrain the cold Jupiter’s sky-projected inclination (Ib = 41°−65°). From this, we derive the mutual inclination (ΔI) between the two planets, and find that 49° < ΔI < 131° (1σ) and 28° < ΔI < 152° (2σ). We examine the dynamics of the system using N-body simulations, and find that potentially large oscillations in the super Earth’s eccentricity and inclination are suppressed by general relativistic precession. However, nodal precession of the inner orbit around the invariable plane causes the super Earth to only transit between 7 and 22 per cent of the time, and to usually be observed as misaligned with the stellar spin axis. We repeat our analysis for HAT-P-11, finding a large ΔI between its close-in Neptune and cold Jupiter and similar dynamics. π Men and HAT-P-11 are prime examples of systems where dynamically hot outer planets excite their inner planets, with the effects of increasing planet eccentricities, planet–star misalignments, and potentially reducing the transit multiplicity. Formation of such systems likely involves scattering between multiple giant planets or misaligned protoplanetary discs. Future imaging of the faint debris disc in π Men and precise constraints on its stellar spin orientation would provide strong tests for these formation scenarios.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is unique in that it has a chain of seven terrestrial Earth-like planets located close to or in its habitable zone. In this paper, we study the effect of potential cometary ...impacts on the TRAPPIST-1 planets and how they would affect the primordial atmospheres of these planets. We consider both atmospheric mass loss and volatile delivery with a view to assessing whether any sort of life has a chance to develop. We ran N-body simulations to investigate the orbital evolution of potential impacting comets, to determine which planets are more likely to be impacted and the distributions of impact velocities. We consider three scenarios that could potentially throw comets into the inner region (i.e. within 0.1 au where the seven planets are located) from an (as yet undetected) outer belt similar to the Kuiper belt or an Oort cloud: planet scattering, the Kozai–Lidov mechanism, and Galactic tides. For the different scenarios, we quantify, for each planet, how much atmospheric mass is lost and what mass of volatiles can be delivered over the age of the system depending on the mass scattered out of the outer belt. We find that the resulting high-velocity impacts can easily destroy the primordial atmospheres of all seven planets, even if the mass scattered from the outer belt is as low as that of the Kuiper belt. However, we find that the atmospheres of the outermost planets f, g, and h can also easily be replenished with cometary volatiles (e.g. ∼ an Earth ocean mass of water could be delivered). These scenarios would thus imply that the atmospheres of these outermost planets could be more massive than those of the innermost planets, and have volatiles-enriched composition.
Exoplanets have been observed at many stages of their host star's life, including the main-sequence (MS), subgiant and red giant branch stages. Also, polluted white dwarfs (WDs) likely represent ...dynamically active systems at late times. Here, we perform three-body simulations which include realistic post-MS stellar mass-loss and span the entire lifetime of exosystems with two massive planets, from the endpoint of formation to several Gyr into the WD phase of the host star. We find that both MS and WD systems experience ejections and star-planet collisions (Lagrange instability) even if the planet-planet separation well-exceeds the analytical orbit-crossing (Hill instability) boundary. Consequently, MS-stable planets do not need to be closely packed to experience instability during the WD phase. This instability may pollute the WD directly through collisions, or, more likely, indirectly through increased scattering of smaller bodies such as asteroids or comets. Our simulations show that this instability occurs predominately between tens of Myr to a few Gyr of WD cooling.
Abstract High-resolution observations of several debris disks reveal structures such as gaps and spirals, suggestive of gravitational perturbations induced by underlying planets. Most existing ...studies of planet–debris disk interactions ignore the gravity of the disk, treating it as a reservoir of massless planetesimals. In this paper, we continue our investigation into the long-term interaction between a single eccentric planet and an external, massive debris disk. Building upon our previous work, here we consider not only the axisymmetric component of the disk’s gravitational potential, but also the nonaxisymmetric torque that the disk exerts on the planet (ignoring for now only the nonaxisymmetric component of the disk self -gravity). To this goal, we develop and test a semianalytic “ N -ring” framework that is based on a generalized (softened) version of the classical Laplace–Lagrange secular theory. Using this tool, we demonstrate that even when the disk is less massive than the planet, not only can a secular resonance be established within the disk that leads to the formation of a wide gap, but that the very same resonance also damps the planetary eccentricity e p via a process known as resonant friction. The resulting gap is initially nonaxisymmetric (akin to those observed in HD 92945 and HD 206893), but evolves to become more axisymmetric (similar to that in HD 107146) as e p ( t ) → 0 with time. We also develop analytic understanding of these findings, finding good quantitative agreement with the outcomes of the N -ring calculations. Our results may be used to infer both the dynamical masses of (gapped) debris disks and the dynamical history of the planets interior to them, as we exemplify for HD 206893.