The AU Microscopii Debris Disk: Multiwavelength Imaging and Modeling

Abstract

(abridged) Debris disks around main sequence stars are produced by the erosion and evaporation of unseen parent bodies. AU Microscopii (GJ 803) is a compelling object to study in the context of disk evolution across different spectral types, as it is an M dwarf whose near edge-on disk may be directly compared to that of its A5V sibling beta Pic. We resolve the disk from 8-60 AU in the near-IR JHK' bands at high resolution with the Keck II telescope and adaptive optics, and develop a novel data reduction technique for the removal of the stellar point spread function. The point source detection sensitivity in the disk midplane is more than a magnitude less sensitive than regions away from the disk for some radii. We measure a blue color across the near-IR bands, and confirm the presence of substructure in the inner disk. Some of the structural features exhibit wavelength-dependent positions. The disk architecture and characteristics of grain composition are inferred through modeling. We approach the modeling of the dust distribution in a manner that complements previous work. Using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, we compare a relatively simple model of the distribution of porous grains to a broad data set, simultaneously fitting to midplane surface brightness profiles and the spectral energy distribution. Our model confirms that the large-scale architecture of the disk is consistent with detailed models of steady-state grain dynamics. Here, a belt of parent bodies from 35-40 AU is responsible for producing dust that is then swept outward by the stellar wind and radiation pressures. We infer the presence of very small grains in the outer region, down to sizes of ~0.05 micron. These sizes are consistent with stellar mass-loss rates Mdot_* << 10^2 Mdot_sun.

ApJ accepted, 56 pages, preprint style. Version in emulateapj with high-resolution figures available at http://tinyurl.com/y6ent7

References in corpus (41)

• Disk Frequencies and Lifetimes in Young Clusters
• A Non-Gray Theory of Extrasolar Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs
• The NextGen Model Atmosphere grid for $3000\le \Teff \le 10000\K$
• Angular Differential Imaging: a Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique
• Infrared Emission from Interstellar Dust. I. Stochastic Heating of Small Grains
• On the Luminosity of Young Jupiters
• Monte Carlo radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks
• How Observations of Circumstellar Disk Asymmetries Can Reveal Hidden Planets: Pericenter Glow and its Application to the HR 4796 Disk
• Spitzer IRS Spectroscopy of IRAS-Discovered Debris Disks
• Frequency of Debris Disks around Solar-Type Stars: First Results from a Spitzer/MIPS Survey
• Discovery of a large dust disk around the nearby star AU Microscopium
• Dust Dynamics, Surface Brightness Profiles, and Thermal Spectra of Debris Disks: The Case of AU Mic
• The Age of Beta Pic
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• Dynamical modeling of large scale asymmetries in the beta Pictoris dust disk
• A search for hot massive extrasolar planets around nearby young stars with the adaptive optics system NACO
• Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks II. Embedded Planets
• The Geometry of Resonant Signatures in Debris Disks with Planets
• Substructure in the Circumstellar Disk around the Young Star AU Mic (GJ 803)
• The Signature of Primordial Grain Growth in the Polarized Light of the AU Mic Debris Disk
• Dust in Resonant Extrasolar Kuiper Belts - Grain Size and Wavelength Dependence of Disk Structure
• Where Are The M Dwarf Disks Older Than 10 Million Years?
• The Inner Rings of Beta Pictoris
• A Sub-Millimeter Search of Nearby Young Stars for Cold Dust: Discovery of Debris Disks around Two Low-Mass Stars
• Discovery of extreme asymmetry in the debris disk surrounding HD 15115
• Resonant inclination excitation of migrating giant planets
• First scattered light images of debris disks around HD 53143 and HD 139664
• The age dependence of the Vega phenomenon: Observations
• Collisional dust avalanches in debris discs
• Speckle Statistics in Adaptively Corrected Images
• Calculating Cross Sections of Composite Interstellar Grains
• Dust extinction and absorption: the challenge of porous grains
• First optical images of circumstellar dust surrounding the debris disk candidate HD 32297
• Adaptive Optics Imaging of the AU Microscopii Circumstellar Disk: Evidence for Dynamical Evolution
• Rapid Dissipation of Primordial Gas from the AU Microscopii Debris Disk
• M-type Vega-like stars
• Dust outflows and inner gaps generated by massive planets in debris disks
• Signatures of Planets in Spatially Unresolved Disks
• Young Jupiters are Faint: New Models of the Early Evolution of Giant Planets
• Tip-tilt Error in Lyot Coronagraphs
• Constraining the Adaptive Optics Point-Spread Function in Crowded Fields: Measuring Photometric Aperture Corrections

Cited by in corpus (56)

• Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets and Disks using Projections on Karhunen-Loeve Eigenimages
• Benchmark problems for continuum radiative transfer. High optical depths, anisotropic scattering, and polarisation
• Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy
• New Debris Disks Around Young, Low Mass Stars Discovered With The Spitzer Space Telescope
• Identifying the Young Low-mass Stars within 25 pc. I. Spectroscopic Observations
• Probing dust grain evolution in IM Lupi's circumstellar disc. Multi-wavelength observations and modelling of the dust disc
• Debris from giant impacts between planetary embryos at large orbital radii
• An icy Kuiper-Belt around the young solar-type star HD 181327
• Outer edges of debris discs: how sharp is sharp?
• Millimeter Emission Structure in the first ALMA Image of the AU Mic Debris Disk
• High-Contrast Observations in Optical and Infrared Astronomy
• Interstellar Medium Sculpting of the HD 32297 Disk
• A Primer on Unifying Debris Disk Morphologies
• Vertical structure of debris discs
• Modeling the HD32297 Debris Disk with Far-IR Herschel Data
• Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope Observations of the Debris Disk around the Nearby K Dwarf HD 92945
• High-spatial-resolution imaging of thermal emission from debris disks
• Observations of fast-moving features in the debris disk of AU Mic on a three-year timescale: Confirmation and new discoveries
• The Mass of Stirring Bodies in the AU Mic Debris Disk Inferred from Resolved Vertical Structure
• Hubble Space Telescope Optical Imaging of the Eroding Debris Disk HD 61005
• Collisional modelling of the AU Microscopii debris disc
• A Resolved Millimeter Emission Belt in the AU Mic Debris Disk
• The AU Mic Debris Disk: far-infrared and submillimeter resolved imaging
• How large are the monomers of dust aggregates in planet-forming disks?: Insights from quantitative optical and near-infrared polarimetry
• Porous dust grains in debris disks
• A SMACK Model of Colliding Planetesimals in the $\beta$ Pictoris Debris Disk
• The nearby population of M dwarfs with WISE: A search for warm circumstellar dust
• Planetesimals in Debris Disks of Sun-like Stars
• AU Microscopii in the FUV: Observations in Quiescence, During Flares, and Implications for AU Mic b and c
• Gemini Planet Imager Observations of the AU Microscopii Debris Disk: Asymmetries within One Arcsecond
• Kuiper belt structure around nearby super-Earth host stars
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy of the debris disk HD 32297: Further evidence of small dust grains
• Bringing "The Moth" to Light: A Planet-Sculpting Scenario for the HD 61005 Debris Disk
• Expelled grains from an unseen parent body around AU Mic
• Formation and evolution of planetary systems: the impact of high angular resolution optical techniques
• The interstellar object 'Oumuamua as a fractal dust aggregate
• Is there more than meets the eye? Presence and role of submicron grains in debris discs
• The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Offset Ring of HR 4796 A
• Can gas in young debris disks be constrained by their radial brightness profiles?
• Circumstellar disks and planets. Science cases for next-generation optical/infrared long-baseline interferometers
• Search for cool giant exoplanets around young and nearby stars - VLT/NaCo near-infrared phase-coronagraphic and differential imaging
• Observability of Debris Discs around M-stars
• SCExAO/CHARIS Near-IR High-Contrast Imaging and Integral Field Spectroscopy of the HIP 79977 Debris Disk
• Debris Disk Color with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Rave: A non-parametric method for recovering the surface brightness and height profiles of edge-on debris disks
• High Fidelity Imaging of the Inner AU Mic Debris Disk: Evidence of Differential Wind Sculpting?
• Spectral energy distribution simulations of a possible ring structure around the young, red brown dwarf G196-3B
• Multiwavelength Vertical Structure in the AU Mic Debris Disk: Characterizing the Collisional Cascade
• X-raying the AU Microscopii debris disk
• Stumbling over planetary building blocks: AU Microscopii as an example of the challenge of retrieving debris-disk dust properties
• A re-investigation of debris disc halos
• Optical Coronagraphic Spectroscopy of AU Mic: Evidence of Time Variable Colors?
• Light Scattering and Thermal Emission by Primitive Dust Particles in Planetary Systems
• Multiband imaging of the HD 36546 debris disk: a refined view from SCExAO/CHARIS
• Probing the innermost region of the AU~Microscopii debris disk
• X-raying circumstellar material around young stars