Observing planet-disk interaction in debris disks

Abstract

Context. Structures in debris disks induced by planetdisk interaction are promising to provide valuable constraints on the existence and properties of embedded planets. Aims. We investigate the observability of structures in debris disks induced by planet-disk interaction. Methods. The observability of debris disks with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is studied on the basis of a simple analytical disk model. Furthermore, N-body simulations are used to model the spatial dust distribution in debris disks under the influence of planet-disk interaction. Images at optical scattered light to millimeter thermal re-emission are computed. Available information about the expected capabilities of ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are used to investigate the observability of characteristic disk structures through spatially resolved imaging. Results. Planet-disk interaction can result in prominent structures. This provides the opportunity of detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets in a range of masses and radial distances from the star that is not accessible to other techniques. Facilities that will be available in the near future are shown to provide the capabilities to spatially resolve and characterize structures in debris disks. Limitations are revealed and suggestions for possible instrument setups and observing strategies are given. In particular, ALMA is limited by its sensitivity to surface brightness, which requires a trade-off between sensitivity and spatial resolution. Space-based midinfrared observations will be able to detect and spatially resolve regions in debris disks even at a distance of several tens of AU from the star, where the emission from debris disks in this wavelength range is expected to be low. [Abridged]

16 pages, 10 figures, accepted by A&A

References in corpus (8)

• The James Webb Space Telescope
• Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799
• Optical Images of an Exosolar Planet 25 Light Years from Earth
• The Complete Census of 70-um-Bright Debris Disks within the FEPS (Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems) Spitzer Legacy Survey of Sun-like Stars
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• A Survey for Massive Giant Planets in Debris Disks with Evacuated Inner Cavities
• Long-wavelength observations of debris discs around sun-like stars
• A Resolved Ring of Debris Dust Around the Solar Analog HD 107146

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy
• DUst Around NEarby Stars. The survey observational results
• The HOSTS survey for exozodiacal dust: Observational results from the complete survey
• Millimeter Emission Structure in the first ALMA Image of the AU Mic Debris Disk
• A near-infrared interferometric survey of debris-disc stars. IV. An unbiased sample of 92 southern stars observed in H-band with VLTI/PIONIER
• Revealing Asymmetries in the HD 181327 Debris Disk: A Recent Massive Collision or ISM Warping
• Modeling Self-Subtraction in Angular Differential Imaging: Application to the HD 32297 Debris Disk
• The HOSTS survey - Exozodiacal dust measurements for 30 stars
• Planet Signatures in Collisionally Active Debris Discs: scattered light images
• Collisional modelling of the AU Microscopii debris disc
• A resolved debris disk around the candidate planet-hosting star HD95086
• An Exo-Kuiper Belt and An Extended Halo around HD 191089 in Scattered Light
• Porous dust grains in debris disks
• Tracing large-scale structures in circumstellar disks with ALMA
• Kuiper belt structure around nearby super-Earth host stars
• ALMA 1.3 Millimeter Map of the HD 95086 System
• The Peculiar Debris Disk of HD 111520 as Resolved by the Gemini Planet Imager
• Can eccentric debris disks be long-lived? A first numerical investigation and application to ${\zeta }^2$ Reticuli
• On the cavity of a debris disc carved by a giant planet
• Collisional modelling of the debris disc around HIP 17439
• Potential multi-component structure of the debris disk around HIP 17439 revealed by Herschel/DUNES
• Spectral energy distribution simulations of a possible ring structure around the young, red brown dwarf G196-3B
• Impact of planetesimal eccentricities and material strength on the appearance of eccentric debris disks
• Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks IV. -- with JWST & ELT
• Near-Infrared Image of the Debris Disk around HD 15115
• Polarization of stars with debris disks: comparing observations with models
• Dust particles in mean motion resonances influenced by an interstellar gas flow