The HR 4796A Debris System: Discovery of Extensive Exo-Ring Dust Material

Abstract

The optically and IR bright, and starlight-scattering, HR 4796A ring-like debris disk is one of the most (and best) studied exoplanetary debris systems. The presence of a yet-undetected planet has been inferred (or suggested) from the narrow width and inner/outer truncation radii of its r = 1.05" (77 au) debris ring. We present new, highly sensitive, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) visible-light images of the HR 4796A circumstellar debris system and its environment over a very wide range of stellocentric angles from 0.32" (23 au) to ~ 15" (1100 au). These very high contrast images were obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) using 6-roll PSF-template subtracted coronagraphy suppressing the primary light of HR 4796A and using three image plane occulters and simultaneously subtracting the background light from its close angular proximity M2.5V companion. The resulting images unambiguously reveal the debris ring embedded within a much larger, morphologically complex, and bi-axially asymmetric exoring scattering structure. These images at visible wavelengths are sensitive to, and map, the spatial distribution, brightness, and radial surface density of micron size particles over 5 dex in surface brightness. These particles in the exo-ring environment may be unbound from the system and interacting with the local ISM. Herein we present a new morphological and photometric view of the larger than prior seen HR 4796A exoplanetary debris system with sensitivity to small particles at stellocentric distances an order of magnitude greater than has previously been observed.

28 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal 21 December 2017

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• Reference-star differential imaging on SPHERE/IRDIS
• The vertical structure of debris disks and the impact of gas
• Multiband GPI Imaging of the HR 4796A Debris Disk
• Using Data Imputation for Signal Separation in High Contrast Imaging
• A Layered Debris Disk around M Star TWA 7 in Scattered Light
• Dust production in the debris disk around HR 4796 A
• Debris Disk Color with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Using warm dust to constrain unseen planets
• High Fidelity Imaging of the Inner AU Mic Debris Disk: Evidence of Differential Wind Sculpting?
• A re-investigation of debris disc halos
• Apocenter pile-up and arcs: a narrow dust ring around HD 129590
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) V: Comparison between scattered light and thermal emission
• Quadrant polarization parameters for the scattered light of circumstellar disks. Analysis of debris disk models and observations of HR 4796A
• Debris discs in binaries: morphology and photometric signatures
• An HST/STIS View of Protoplanetary Disks in Upper Scorpius: Observations of Three Young M-Stars
• A Multiband Study of the HR 4796A Disk in the Optical Using MagAO-X