| 1. |
- Boccaletti, Anthony, et al.
(författare)
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Fast-moving features in the debris disk around AU Microscopii
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 526:7572, s. 230-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the 1980s, excess infrared emission was discovered around main-sequence stars; subsequent direct-imaging observations revealed orbiting disks of cold dust to be the source(1). These 'debris disks' were thought to be by-products of planet formation because they often exhibited morphological and brightness asymmetries that may result from gravitational perturbation by planets. This was proved to be true for the beta Pictoris system, in which the known planet generates an observable warp in the disk(2-5). The nearby, young, unusually active late-type star AU Microscopii hosts a well-studied edge-on debris disk; earlier observations in the visible and near-infrared found asymmetric localized structures in the form of intensity variations along the midplane of the disk beyond a distance of 20 astronomical units(6-9). Here we report high-contrast imaging that reveals a series of five large-scale features in the southeast side of the disk, at projected separations of 10-60 astronomical units, persisting over intervals of 1-4 years. All these features appear to move away from the star at projected speeds of 4-10 kilometres per second, suggesting highly eccentric or unbound trajectories if they are associated with physical entities. The origin, localization, morphology and rapid evolution of these features are difficult to reconcile with current theories.
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| 2. |
- Cataldi, Gianni, 1986-
(författare)
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Debris disks and the search for life in the universe
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Circumstellar debris disks are the extrasolar analogues of the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. These disks consist of comets and leftover planetesimals that continuously collide to produce copious amounts of circumstellar dust that can be observed as infrared excess or in resolved imaging. As an obvious outcome of the planet formation process, debris disks can help us constrain planet formation theories and learn about the history of our own solar system. Structures in the disks such as gaps or warps can hint at the presence of planets. Thus, the study of debris disks is an important branch of exoplanetary science. In this thesis, some aspects of debris disks are considered in detail.A handful of debris disks show observable amounts of gas besides the dust. One such case is the edge-on debris disk around the young A-type star β Pictoris, where the gas is thought to be of secondary origin, i.e. derived from the dust itself. By observing this gas, we can thus learn something about the dust, and therefore about the building blocks of planets. In paper I, spectrally resolved observations of C II emission with Herschel/HIFI are presented. The line profile is used to constrain the spatial distribution of carbon gas in the disk, which helps understanding the gas producing mechanism. In paper II, we analyse C II and O I emission detected with Herschel/PACS and find that the oxygen must be located in a relatively dense region, possibly similar to the CO clump seen by ALMA. An upcoming analysis of our ALMA C I observations will give us a clearer picture of the system.Another famous debris disk is found around the nearby, 440 Myr old A-star Fomalhaut. Its morphology is that of an eccentric debris belt with sharp edges, suggesting shaping by a planet. However, gas-dust interactions may result in a similar morphology without the need to invoke planets. We test this possibility in paper III by analysing non-detections of C II and O I emission by Herschel/PACS. We find that there is not enough gas present to efficiently sustain gas-dust interactions, implying that the morphology of the Fomalhaut belt is due to a yet unseen planet or alternatively stellar encounters.One of the biggest challenges in exoplanetary research is to answer the question whether there are inhabited worlds other than the Earth. With the number of known rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone increasing rapidly, we might actually be able to answer this question in the coming decades. Different approaches exist to detect the presence of life remotely, for example by studying exoplanetary atmospheres or by analysing light reflected off the surface of an exoplanet. In paper IV, we study whether biosignatures (for example, certain minerals or microorganisms) ejected into a circumstellar debris disk by an impact event could be detected. We consider an impact similar to the Chicxulub event and model the collisional evolution of the ejected debris. Dust from such an event can potentially be detected by current telescopes, but analysis of the debris composition has to wait for future, advanced instruments.
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| 3. |
- Janson, Markus, et al.
(författare)
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DETECTION OF SHARP SYMMETRIC FEATURES IN THE CIRCUMBINARY DISK AROUND AK Sco
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 816:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Search for Planets Orbiting Two Stars survey aims to study the formation and distribution of planets in binary systems by detecting and characterizing circumbinary planets and their formation environments through direct imaging. With the SPHERE Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument, a good contrast can be achieved even at small (< 300 mas) separations from bright stars, which enables studies of planets and disks in a separation range that was previously inaccessible. Here, we report the discovery of resolved scattered light emission from the circumbinary disk around the well-studied young double star AK. Sco, at projected separations in the similar to 13-40 AU range. The sharp morphology of the imaged feature is surprising, given the smooth appearance of the disk in its spectral energy distribution. We show that the observed morphology can be represented either as a highly eccentric ring around AK Sco, or as two separate spiral arms in the disk, wound in opposite directions. The relative merits of these interpretations are discussed, as well as whether these features may have been caused by one or several circumbinary planets interacting with the disk.
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| 4. |
- Lawson, Kellen, et al.
(författare)
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SCExAO/CHARIS Near-infrared Integral Field Spectroscopy of the HD 15115 Debris Disk
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-6256 .- 1538-3881. ; 160:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present new, near-infrared (1.1-2.4 mu m) high-contrast imaging of the debris disk around HD 15115 with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system coupled with the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS). The SCExAO/CHARIS resolves the disk down to rho similar to 02 (r(proj) similar to 10 au), a factor of similar to 3-5 smaller than previous recent studies. We derive a disk position angle of PA similar to 2794-2805 and an inclination ofi similar to 853-86.2. While recent SPHERE/IRDIS imagery of the system could suggest a significantly misaligned two-ring disk geometry, CHARIS imagery does not reveal conclusive evidence for this hypothesis. Moreover, optimizing models of both one- and two-ring geometries using differential evolution, we find that a single ring having a Hong-like scattering phase function matches the data equally well within the CHARIS field of view (rho less than or similar to 1 ''). The disk's asymmetry, well evidenced at larger separations, is also recovered; the west side of the disk appears, on average, around 0.4 mag brighter across the CHARIS bandpass between 025 and 1 ''. Comparing Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) 50CCD optical photometry (2000-10500 A) with CHARIS near-infrared photometry, we find a red (STIS/50CCD-CHARIS broadband) color for both sides of the disk throughout the 04-1 '' region of overlap, in contrast to the blue color reported at similar wavelengths for regions exterior to similar to 2 ''. Further, this color may suggest a smaller minimum grain size than previously estimated at larger separations. Finally, we provide constraints on planetary companions and discuss possible mechanisms for the observed inner disk flux asymmetry and color.
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| 5. |
- Nilsson, Ricky, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Kuiper belts around nearby stars
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. A40-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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 mu m, as part of a large programme with the LABOCA bolometer at the APEX telescope. Dust masses (or upper limits) were calculated from integrated 870 mu m fluxes, and fits to the SED of detected sources revealed the fractional dust luminosities f(dust), dust temperatures T(dust), and power-law exponents beta of the opacity law. Results. A total of 10 detections with at least 3 sigma significance were made, out of which five (HD95086, HD131835, HD161868, HD170773, and HD207129) have previously never been detected at submillimetre wavelengths. Three additional sources are marginally detected with > 2.5 sigma significance. The best-fit beta 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(dust) proportional to t(-alpha), with a similar to 0.8-2.0, and identify an evolution of the characteristic radial dust distance R(dust) that is consistent with the t(1/3) increase predicted from models of self-stirred collisions in debris disks.
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