Twisted debris: how differential secular perturbations shape debris disks

Abstract

Resolved images suggest that asymmetric structures are a common feature of cold debris disks. While planets close to these disks are rarely detected, their hidden presence and gravitational perturbations provide plausible explanations for some of these features. To put constraints on the properties of yet undetected planetary companions, we aim to predict what features such a planet imprints in debris disks undergoing continuous collisional evolution. We discuss the basic equations, analytic approximations and timescales governing collisions, radiation pressure and secular perturbations. In addition, we combine our numerical model of the collisional evolution of the size and spatial distributions in debris disks with the gravitational perturbation by a single planet. We find that the distributions of orbital elements in the disks are strongly dependent on grain sizes. Secular precession is differential with respect to involved semi-major axes and grain sizes. This leads to observable differences between the big grains tracing the parent belt and the small grains in the trailing halo. Observations at different wavelengths can be used to constrain the properties of a possible planet.

12 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Long-Term Collisional Evolution of Debris Disks
• Disk Radii and Grain Sizes in Herschel-Resolved Debris Disks
• Outer edges of debris discs: how sharp is sharp?
• A Complete ALMA Map of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk
• ALMA observations of the narrow HR 4796A debris ring
• Apocenter glow in eccentric debris disks: implications for Fomalhaut and epsilon Eridani
• Debris Disc Constraints on Planetesimal Formation

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Eccentric debris disc morphologies I: exploring the origin of apocentre and pericentre glows in face-on debris discs
• High resolution ALMA and HST imaging of $\kappa$CrB: a broad debris disc around a post-main sequence star with low-mass companions
• Twisted extreme trans-Neptunian orbital parameter space: statistically significant asymmetries confirmed