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.
Exocometary Gas in the HD 181327 Debris Ring Marino, S.; Matra, L.; Stark, C. ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
08/2016, Volume:
460, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
An increasing number of observations have shown that gaseous debris discs are not an exception. However, until now, we only knew of cases around A stars. Here we present the first detection of 12CO ...(2-1) disc emission around an F star, HD 181327, obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations at 1.3 mm. The continuum and CO emission are resolved into an axisymmetric disc with ring-like morphology. Using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method coupled with radiative transfer calculations, we study the dust and CO mass distribution. We find the dust is distributed in a ring with a radius of 86.0 +/- 0.4 au and a radial width of 23.2 +/- 1.0 au. At this frequency, the ring radius is smaller than in the optical, revealing grain size segregation expected due to radiation pressure. We also report on the detection of low-level continuum emission beyond the main ring out to approximately 200 au. We model the CO emission in the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium regime and we find that the CO is co-located with the dust, with a total CO gas mass ranging between 1.2 x 10(exp -6) solar mass and 2.9 x 10(exp -6) solar mass, depending on the gas kinetic temperature and collisional partners densities. The CO densities and location suggest a secondary origin, i.e. released from icy planetesimals in the ring. We derive a CO+CO2 cometary composition that is consistent with Solar system comets. Due to the low gas densities, it is unlikely that the gas is shaping the dust distribution.
This paper explores how the stochastic accretion of planetesimals on to white dwarfs would be manifested in observations of their atmospheric pollution. Archival observations of pollution levels for ...unbiased samples of DA and non-DA white dwarfs are used to derive the distribution of inferred accretion rates, confirming that rates become systematically lower as sinking time (assumed here to be dominated by gravitational settling) is decreased, with no discernable dependence on cooling age. The accretion rates expected from planetesimals that are all the same mass (i.e., a mono-mass distribution) are explored both analytically and using a Monte Carlo model, quantifying how measured accretion rates inevitably depend on sinking time, since different sinking times probe different times since the last accretion event. However, that dependence is so dramatic that a mono-mass distribution can be excluded within the context of this model. Consideration of accretion from a broad distribution of planetesimal masses uncovers an important conceptual difference: accretion is continuous (rather than stochastic) for planetesimals below a certain mass, and the accretion of such planetesimals determines the rate typically inferred from observations; smaller planetesimals dominate the rates for shorter sinking times. A reasonable fit to the observationally inferred accretion rate distributions is found with model parameters consistent with a collisionally evolved mass distribution up to Pluto-mass, and an underlying accretion rate distribution consistent with that expected from descendants of debris discs of main-sequence A stars. With these parameters, while both DA and non-DA white dwarfs accrete from the same broad planetesimal distribution, this model predicts that the pollution seen in DAs is dominated by the continuous accretion of <35 km objects, and that in non-DAs by >35 km objects (though the dominant size varies between stars by around an order of magnitude from this reference value). Furthermore, observations that characterize the dependence of inferred accretion rates on sinking time and cooling age (including a consideration of the effect of thermohaline convection on models used to derive those rates), and the decadal variability of DA accretion signatures, will improve constraints on the mass distribution of accreted material and the lifetime of the disc through which it is accreted.
Spectral modeling of the large infrared excess in the Spitzer IRS spectra of HD 172555 suggests that there is more than 10 super(19) kg of submicron dust in the system. Using physical arguments and ...constraints from observations, we rule out the possibility of the infrared excess being created by a magma ocean planet or a circumplanetary disk or torus. We show that the infrared excess is consistent with a circumstellar debris disk or torus, located at ~6 AU, that was created by a planetary scale hypervelocity impact. We find that radiation pressure should remove submicron dust from the debris disk in less than one year. However, the system's mid-infrared photometric flux, dominated by submicron grains, has been stable within 4% over the last 27 years, from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (1983) to WISE (2010). Our new spectral modeling work and calculations of the radiation pressure on fine dust in HD 172555 provide a self-consistent explanation for this apparent contradiction. We also explore the unconfirmed claim that ~10 super(47) molecules of SiO vapor are needed to explain an emission feature at ~8 mum in the Spitzer IRS spectrum of HD 172555. We find that unless there are ~10 super(48) atoms or 0.05 M sub(+ in circle) of atomic Si and O vapor in the system, SiO vapor should be destroyed by photo-dissociation in less than 0.2 years. We argue that a second plausible explanation for the ~8 mum feature can be emission from solid SiO, which naturally occurs in submicron silicate "smokes" created by quickly condensing vaporized silicate.
The fine dust detected by infrared (IR) emission around the nearby Delta *b Pic analog star HD172555 is very peculiar. The dust mineralogy is composed primarily of highly refractory, nonequilibrium ...materials, with approximately three quarters of the Si atoms in silica (SiO2) species. Tektite and obsidian lab thermal emission spectra (nonequilibrium glassy silicas found in impact and magmatic systems) are required to fit the data. The best-fit model size distribution for the observed fine dust is dn/da = a -3.95+/-0.10. While IR photometry of the system has stayed stable since the 1983 IRAS mission, this steep a size distribution, with abundant micron-sized particles, argues for a fresh source of material within the last 0.1 Myr. The location of the dust with respect to the star is at 5.8 +/- 0.6 AU (equivalent to 1.9 +/- 0.2 AU from the Sun), within the terrestrial planet formation region but at the outer edge of any possible terrestrial habitability zone. The mass of fine dust is 4 X 1019-2 X 1020 kg, equivalent to a 150-200 km radius asteroid. Significant emission features centered at 4 and 8 Delta *mm due to fluorescing SiO gas are also found. Roughly 1022 kg of SiO gas, formed by vaporizing silicate rock, is also present in the system, and a separate population of very large, cool grains, massing 1021-1022 kg and equivalent to the largest sized asteroid currently found in the solar system's main asteroid belt, dominates the solid circumstellar material by mass. The makeup of the observed dust and gas, and the noted lack of a dense circumstellar gas disk, strong stellar X-ray activity, and an extended disk of Delta *b meteoroids argues that the source of the observed circumstellar materials is a giant hypervelocity (>10 km s-1) impact between large rocky planetesimals, similar to the ones which formed the Moon and which stripped the surface crustal material off of Mercury's surface.
A quarter of DA white dwarfs are metal polluted, yet elements heavier than helium sink down through the stellar atmosphere on time-scales of days. Hence, these white dwarfs must be the currently ...accreting material containing heavy elements. Here we consider whether the scattering of comets or asteroids from an outer planetary system, following stellar mass-loss on the asymptotic giant branch, can reproduce these observations. We use N-body simulations to investigate the effects of stellar mass-loss on a simple system consisting of a planetesimal belt whose inner edge is truncated by a planet. Our simulations find that, starting with a planetesimal belt population fitted to the observed main-sequence evolution, sufficient mass is scattered into the inner planetary system to explain the inferred heavy element accretion rates. This assumes that a fraction of the mass scattered into the inner planetary system ends up on star-grazing orbits, is tidally disrupted and is accreted on to the white dwarf. The simulations also reproduce the observed decrease in accretion rate with cooling age and predict accretion rates in old (>1 Gyr) white dwarfs, in line with observations. The efficiency we assumed for material scattered into the inner planetary system to end up on star-grazing orbits is based on a solar-like planetary system, since the simulations show that a single planet is not sufficient. Although the correct level of accretion is reproduced, the simulations predict a higher fraction of accreting white dwarfs than observed. This could indicate that the evolved planetary systems are less efficient in scattering bodies on to star-grazing orbits or that dynamical instabilities post-stellar mass-loss cause rapid planetesimal belt depletion for a significant fraction of systems.
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.)
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.
Recent Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations present mounting evidence for the presence of exocometary gas released within Kuiper Belt analogs around nearby main-sequence stars. ...This represents a unique opportunity to study their ice reservoir at the younger ages when volatile delivery to planets is most likely to occur. We here present the detection of CO J = 2-1 emission colocated with dust emission from the cometary belt in the 440 Myr old Fomalhaut system. Through spectrospatial filtering, we achieve a 5.4 detection and determine that the ring's sky-projected rotation axis matches that of the star. The CO mass derived ( ) is the lowest of any circumstellar disk detected to date and must be of exocometary origin. Using a steady-state model, we estimate the CO+CO2 mass fraction of exocomets around Fomalhaut to be between 4.6% and 76%, consistent with solar system comets and the two other belts known to host exocometary gas. This is the first indication of a similarity in cometary compositions across planetary systems that may be linked to their formation scenario and is consistent with direct interstellar medium inheritance. In addition, we find tentative evidence that % of the detected flux originates from a region near the eccentric belt's pericenter. If confirmed, the latter may be explained through a recent impact event or CO pericenter glow due to exocometary release within a steady-state collisional cascade. In the latter scenario, we show how the azimuthal dependence of the CO release rate leads to asymmetries in gas observations of eccentric exocometary belts.
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