MAMBO image of the debris disk around epsilon Eridani : robustness of the azimuthal structure

Abstract

The debris disk closest to Earth is the one around the star epsilon Eridani at a distance of 3.2 pc. It is the prime target for detailed studies of a belt of planetesimals left from the early phase of planet formation other than the Kuiper Belt. The non-uniform ring-like structure around epsilon Eridani, originally discovered at lambda=850 microns with the bolometer camera SCUBA, could be the signpost of unseen long-period planets interior to the disk that gravitationally interact with it through mean-motion resonances. However, the reliability of the structure at 850 microns, which has been debated, has not been verified with independent observations until now. We present a high signal-to-noise ratio image of this structure at lambda=1.2 mm made with the bolometer camera MAMBO and compare this with the SCUBA image. We have found that three of the four emission clumps (NE, NW, SW) and the two deep hollows to the east and west are at the same positions in the MAMBO and SCUBA images within astrometric uncertainty. The SE clump is at odds, significantly brighter and more extended in the SCUBA than in the MAMBO images, but it is possible that this mismatch is an artifact. We conclude that this degree of positional coincidence provides tentative evidence that the observed structure is robust. In addition, we present the radial brightness profile of our MAMBO image and show that the width of the planetesimal belt around epsilon Eridani is narrower than 22 AU, a more stringent upper limit than determined from previous observations. The corresponding relative width is $0.1<\Delta R/R<0.4$, which is lower than for the Kuiper Belt.

Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (8)

• The Extrasolar Planet epsilon Eridani b - Orbit and Mass
• Magnetic Activity Cycles in the Exoplanet Host Star epsilon Eridani
• Protoplanetary disc evolution affected by star-disc interactions in young stellar clusters
• Spitzer/IRAC Limits to Planetary Companions of Fomalhaut and epsilon Eridani
• On the observability of resonant structures in planetesimal disks due to planetary migration
• Inversion of stellar fundamental parameters from Espadons and Narval high-resolution spectra
• On the nature of clumps in debris disks
• Detecting a rotation in the epsilon Eridani debris disc

Cited by in corpus (12)

• SONS: The JCMT legacy survey of debris discs in the submillimetre
• The Northern Arc of $\epsilon$ Eridani's Debris Ring as Seen by ALMA
• ALMA observations of the narrow HR 4796A debris ring
• Apocenter glow in eccentric debris disks: implications for Fomalhaut and epsilon Eridani
• The clumpy structure of $\epsilon$ Eridani's debris disc revisited by ALMA
• Coronal mass ejections and type II radio emission variability during a magnetic cycle on the solar-type star $\epsilon$ Eridani
• EMISSA -- Exploring Millimeter Indicators of Solar-Stellar Activity I. The Initial mm-cm Main Sequence Star Sample
• Detection of 2$-$4 GHz Continuum Emission from $\epsilon$ Eridani
• The SHARDDS survey: limits on planet occurrence rates based on point sources analysis via the Auto-RSM framework
• Hiding Dust Around $\epsilon$ Eridani
• First Millimeter Flares Detected from Epsilon Eridani with ALMA
• Role of non-thermal processes in the quiescent and active millimeter spectrum of a young M dwarf