The far reaches of the beta Pictoris debris disk

Abstract

The nearby young star beta Pictoris hosts a rich and complex planetary system, with at least two giant planets and a nearly edge-on debris disk that contains several dynamical subpopulations of planetesimals. While the inner ranges of the debris disk have been studied extensively, less information is known about the outer, fainter parts of the disk. Here we present an analysis of archival FORS V-band imaging data from 2003-2004, which have previously not been explored scientifically because the halo substructure of the bright stellar point spread function is complex. Through a high-contrast scheme based on angular differential imaging, with a forward-modelling approach to mitigate self-subtraction, we produced the deepest imaging yet for the outer range of the beta Pic disk, and extracted its morphological characteristics. A brightness asymmetry between the two arms of the edge-on disk, which was previously noted in the inner disk, is even more pronounced at larger angular separations, reaching a factor ~10 around 1000 AU. Approaching 2000 AU, the brighter arm is visible at a surface brightness of 27-28 mag/arcsec^2. Much like for the brightness asymmetry, a tilt angle asymmetry exists between the two arms that becomes increasingly extreme at large separations. The outer tilt angle of 7.2 deg can only be explained if the outer disk is farther from an edge-on inclination than the inner disk, or if its dust has a stronger scattering anisotropy, or (most likely) both. The strong asymmetries imply the presence of a highly eccentric kinematic disk component, which may have been caused by a disruptive event thought to have taken place at a closer-in location in the disk.

11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (11)

• The fast spin-rotation of a young extrasolar planet
• The Gemini Deep Planet Survey -- GDPS
• Molecular Gas Clumps from the Destruction of Icy Bodies in the $\beta$ Pictoris Debris Disk
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• The Carbon-Rich Gas in the Beta Pictoris Circumstellar Disk
• Peering into the formation history of beta Pictoris b with VLTI/GRAVITY long baseline interferometry
• Near-infrared scattered light properties of the HR4796A dust ring: a measured scattering phase function from 13.6deg to 166.6deg
• Debris from giant impacts between planetary embryos at large orbital radii
• Transiting exocomets detected in broadband light by TESS in the $\beta$ Pictoris system
• Fomalhaut b as a Dust Cloud: Frequent Collisions within the Fomalhaut Disk
• Tidal disruption versus planetesimal collisions as possible origins for the dispersing dust cloud around Fomalhaut

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Primordial or Secondary? Testing models of debris disk gas with ALMA
• Giant Impacts and Debris Disk Morphology
• Multiwavelength Vertical Structure in the AU Mic Debris Disk: Characterizing the Collisional Cascade
• The beta Pictoris system: Setting constraints on the planet and the disk structures at mid-IR wavelengths with NEAR
• Multi-modal atmospheric characterization of $\beta$ Pictoris b: Adding high-resolution continuum spectra from GRAVITY
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) V: Comparison between scattered light and thermal emission
• An inner warp discovered in the disk around HD 110058 using VLT/SPHERE and HST/STIS
• Characterization of debris disks observed with SPHERE
• Imaging of exocomets with infrared interferometry
• Formation of the warped debris disc around $\beta$ Pictoris
• Dynamics of the Beta Pictoris planetary system and possibility of an additional planet