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.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (34)

• The NextGen Model Atmosphere grid: II. Spherically symmetric model atmospheres for giant stars with effective temperatures between 3000 and 6800~K
• How Observations of Circumstellar Disk Asymmetries Can Reveal Hidden Planets: Pericenter Glow and its Application to the HR 4796 Disk
• The HARPS-TERRA project I. Description of the algorithms, performance and new measurements on a few remarkable stars observed by HARPS
• The Lick Planet Search: Detectability and Mass Thresholds
• A dust ring around Epsilon Eridani: analogue to the young Solar System
• Evidence for a Long-period Planet Orbiting Epsilon Eridani
• Collisional Processes in Extrasolar Planetsimal Disks - Dust Clumps in Fomalhaut's Debris Disk
• Resonant Trapping of Planetesimals by Planet Migration: Debris Disk Clumps and Vega's Similarity to the Solar System
• Final Stages of Planet Formation
• The Extrasolar Planet epsilon Eridani b - Orbit and Mass
• The Geometry of Resonant Signatures in Debris Disks with Planets
• Structure in the Epislon Eridani dusty disk caused by mean motion resonances with a 0.3 eccentricity planet at periastron
• Epsilon Eridani's Planetary Debris Disk: Structure and Dynamics based on Spitzer and CSO Observations
• Constraining the Planetary System of Fomalhaut Using High-Resolution ALMA Observations
• A Study of the Dynamics of Dust from the Kuiper Belt: Spatial Distribution and Spectral Energy Distribution
• Millimeter Emission Structure in the first ALMA Image of the AU Mic Debris Disk
• Modeling Collisional Cascades In Debris Disks: Steep Dust-Size Distributions
• Magnetic Activity Cycles in the Exoplanet Host Star epsilon Eridani
• Resolved Submillimeter Observations of the HR 8799 and HD 107146 Debris Disks
• Protoplanetary disc evolution affected by star-disc interactions in young stellar clusters
• Numerical Modelling of Dusty Debris Disks
• The cold origin of the warm dust around epsilon Eridani
• Spitzer/IRAC Limits to Planetary Companions of Fomalhaut and epsilon Eridani
• On the observability of resonant structures in planetesimal disks due to planetary migration
• ALMA continuum observations of a 30 Myr old gaseous debris disk around HD 21997
• Spatially resolved imaging of the two-component eta Crv debris disk with Herschel
• Stripping a debris disk by close stellar encounters in an open stellar cluster
• Inversion of stellar fundamental parameters from Espadons and Narval high-resolution spectra
• On the nature of clumps in debris disks
• Confirming the Primarily Smooth Structure of the Vega Debris Disk at Millimeter Wavelengths
• Grain Size segregation in debris discs
• Detecting a rotation in the epsilon Eridani debris disc
• High-sensitivity search for clumps in the Vega Kuiper-belt. New PdBI 1.3mm observations
• SIMBA's view of the epsilon Eri disk

Cited by in corpus (18)

• SONS: The JCMT legacy survey of debris discs in the submillimetre
• The HOSTS survey - Exozodiacal dust measurements for 30 stars
• 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 Epsilon Eridani System Resolved by Millimeter Interferometry
• Deep LMT/AzTEC millimeter observations of Epsilon Eridani and its surroundings
• The Inner 25 AU Debris Distribution in the epsilon Eri System
• 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
• Properties of the single Jovian planet population and the pursuit of Solar system analogues
• 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
• Far-infrared and sub-millimetre imaging of HD~76582's circumstellar disk
• 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