Sensitive Identification of Nearby Debris Disks via Precise Calibration of WISE Data

Abstract

Using data from the WISE All-Sky Survey, we have found >100 new infrared excess sources around main-sequence Hipparcos stars within 75pc. Our empirical calibration of WISE photospheric colors and removal of non-trivial false-positive sources are responsible for the high confidence (>99.5%) of detections, while our corrections to saturated W1 (3.4um) and W2 (4.6um) photometry have for the first time allowed us to search for new infrared excess sources around bright field stars in WISE. The careful calibration and filtering of the WISE data have allowed us to probe excess fluxes down to roughly 8% of the photospheric emission at 22um around saturated stars in WISE. We expect that the increased sensitivity of our survey will not only aid in understanding the evolution of debris disks, but will also benefit future studies using WISE.

To appear in "Young Stars and Planets Near the Sun", Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 314 (Cambridge University Press), J.H. Kastner, B. Stelzer, S.A. Metchev, eds

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