Has the dust clump in the debris disk of Beta Pictoris moved?

Abstract

The edge-on debris disk of the nearby young star Beta Pictoris shows an unusual brightness asymmetry in the form of a clump. The clump has been detected in both the mid-IR and CO and its origin has so far remained uncertain. Here we present new mid-IR observations of Beta Pic to track any motion of the dust clump. Together with previous observations, the data span a period of 12 years. We measured any projected displacement of the dust clump over the 12-yr period to be $0.2_{-1.4}^{+1.3}$ au away from the star based on the median and 1$\sigma$ uncertainty, and constrain this displacement to be <11 au at the 3$\sigma$ level. This implies that the observed motion is incompatible with Keplerian motion at the 2.8$\sigma$ level. It has been posited that a planet migrating outwards may trap planetesimals into a 2:1 resonance, resulting in the observed clump at pericentre of their orbits that trails the planet. The observed motion is also incompatible with such resonant motion at the 2.6$\sigma$ level. While Keplerian motion and resonant motion is still possible, the data suggest that the dust clump is more likely stationary. Such a stationary dust clump could originate from the collision or tidal disruption of a planet-sized body, or from secular perturbations due to a planet that create regions with enhanced densities in the disk.

arXiv comment14 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. Published in MNRAS

References in corpus (41)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties
• Planet-disk interaction and orbital evolution
• On the width and shape of gaps in protoplanetary disks
• A probable giant planet imaged in the Beta Pictoris disk
• How Observations of Circumstellar Disk Asymmetries Can Reveal Hidden Planets: Pericenter Glow and its Application to the HR 4796 Disk
• Debris Disks: Structure, Composition, and Variability
• Three-dimensional Calculations of High and Low-mass Planets Embedded in Protoplanetary Discs
• Molecular Gas Clumps from the Destruction of Icy Bodies in the $\beta$ Pictoris Debris Disk
• A lithium depletion boundary age of 21 Myr for the Beta Pictoris moving group
• Resonant Trapping of Planetesimals by Planet Migration: Debris Disk Clumps and Vega's Similarity to the Solar System
• HST/ACS Multiband Coronagraphic Imaging of the Debris Disk around Beta Pictoris
• Structure in the Dusty Debris around Vega
• Structure in the Epislon Eridani dusty disk caused by mean motion resonances with a 0.3 eccentricity planet at periastron
• Debris from giant impacts between planetary embryos at large orbital radii
• Exocometary gas structure, origin and physical properties around $\beta$ Pictoris through ALMA CO multi-transition observations
• Long range outward migration of giant planets, with application to Fomalhaut b
• A Complete ALMA Map of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk
• Kuiper Belt-Like Hot and Cold Populations of Planetesimal Inclinations in the $\beta$ Pictoris Belt Revealed by ALMA
• Collisional dust avalanches in debris discs
• Close stellar encounters with planetesimal discs: The dynamics of asymmetry in the Beta Pictoris system
• Planetesimal driven migration as an explanation for observations of high levels of warm, exozodiacal dust
• Solution to the debris disc mass problem: planetesimals are born small?
• Range of outward migration and influence of the disc's mass on the migration of giant planet cores
• The Inner Disk Structure, Disk-Planet Interactions, and Temporal Evolution in the Beta Pictoris System: A Two-Epoch HST/STIS Coronagraphic Study
• Influence of the water content in protoplanetary discs on planet migration and formation
• On the observability of resonant structures in planetesimal disks due to planetary migration
• ALMA resolves CI emission from the $\beta$ Pictoris debris disk
• A SMACK Model of Colliding Planetesimals in the $\beta$ Pictoris Debris Disk
• Deep LMT/AzTEC millimeter observations of Epsilon Eridani and its surroundings
• Direct imaging of sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets with James Webb Space Telescope coronagraphy
• Massive discs around low-mass stars
• Planet-Disk Interactions
• Very deep images of the innermost regions of the beta Pictoris debris disc at Lp
• Dust Populations in the Iconic Vega Planetary System Resolved by ALMA
• The Mineralogy and Structure of the Inner Debris Disk of β Pictoris
• Detecting a rotation in the epsilon Eridani debris disc
• Planetary Migration to Large Radii
• Transient events in bright debris discs: Collisional avalanches revisited

Cited by in corpus (8)

• JWST-TST High Contrast: JWST/NIRCam observations of the young giant planet $\beta$ Pic b
• Inner edges of planetesimal belts: collisionally eroded or truncated?
• The beta Pictoris system: Setting constraints on the planet and the disk structures at mid-IR wavelengths with NEAR
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS): VI. Asymmetries and offsets
• Dynamics of the Beta Pictoris planetary system and possibility of an additional planet
• Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). XIV. Finding terrestrial protoplanets in the galactic neighborhood
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) VIII: A dust arc and non-Keplerian gas kinematics in HD 121617
• Direct Imaging Discovery of Giant Exoplanet $\beta$ Pictoris d: A Decade-Long Game of Hide-and-Seek