Morphology of the gas-rich debris disk around HD 121617 with SPHERE observations in polarized light

Abstract

Debris disks are the signposts of collisionally eroding planetesimal circumstellar belts, whose study can put important constraints on the structure of extrasolar planetary systems. The best constraints on the morphology of disks are often obtained from spatially resolved observations in scattered light. Here, we investigate the young (~16 Myr) bright gas-rich debris disk around HD121617. We use new scattered-light observations with VLT/SPHERE to characterize the morphology and the dust properties of this disk. From these properties we can then derive constraints on the physical and dynamical environment of this system, for which significant amounts of gas have been detected. The disk morphology is constrained by linear-polarimetric observations in the J band. Based on our modeling results and archival photometry, we also model the SED to put constraints on the total dust mass and the dust size distribution. We explore different scenarios that could explain these new constraints. We present the first resolved image in scattered light of the debris disk HD121617. We fit the morphology of the disk, finding a semi-major axis of 78.3$\pm$0.2 au, an inclination of 43.1$\pm$0.2° and a position angle of the major axis with respect to north, of 239.8$\pm$0.3°, compatible with the previous continuum and CO detection with ALMA. Our analysis shows that the disk has a very sharp inner edge, possibly sculpted by a yet-undetected planet or gas drag. While less sharp, its outer edge is steeper than expected for unperturbed disks, which could also be due to a planet or gas drag, but future observations probing the system farther from the main belt would help explore this further. The SED analysis leads to a dust mass of 0.21$\pm$0.02 M${}_{\oplus }$ and a minimum grain size of 0.87$\pm$0.12 $\mu$m, smaller than the blowout size by radiation pressure, which is not unexpected for very bright col...

12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in A&A (06/02/2023)

References in corpus (31)

• The Gaia mission
• The Gemini Planet Imager: First Light
• VOSA: Virtual Observatory SED Analyzer. An application to the Collinder 69 open cluster
• Monte Carlo radiative transfer in protoplanetary disks
• Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration with HST/STIS Multi-Roll Coronagraphy
• Polarimetry with the Gemini Planet Imager: Methods, Performance at First Light, and the Circumstellar Ring around HR 4796A
• Collisional processes and size distribution in spatially extended debris discs
• The polarimetric imaging mode of VLT/SPHERE/IRDIS II: Characterization and correction of instrumental polarization effects
• The polarimetric imaging mode of VLT/SPHERE/IRDIS I: Description, data reduction and observing strategy
• Outer edges of debris discs: how sharp is sharp?
• Molecular gas in debris disks around young A-type stars
• Kuiper Belt-Like Hot and Cold Populations of Planetesimal Inclinations in the $\beta$ Pictoris Belt Revealed by ALMA
• Collisional dust avalanches in debris discs
• Solution to the debris disc mass problem: planetesimals are born small?
• The SPHERE infrared survey for exoplanets (SHINE) -- II. Observations, Data reduction and analysis Detection performances and early-results
• A survey of the linear polarization of directly imaged exoplanets and brown dwarf companions with SPHERE-IRDIS. First polarimetric detections revealing disks around DH Tau B and GSC 6214-210 B
• Optical polarized phase function of the HR\,4796A dust ring
• A statistically significant lack of debris discs in medium separation binary systems
• The HIP 79977 debris disk in polarized light
• A $75\%$ Occurrence Rate of Debris Discs around F stars in the $\beta$ Pic Moving Group
• The vertical structure of debris disks and the impact of gas
• The challenge of measuring the phase function of debris disks. Application to HR\,4796
• Photoevaporation of Grain-Depleted Protoplanetary Disks around Intermediate-Mass Stars: Investigating Possibility of Gas-Rich Debris Disks as Protoplanetary Remnants
• Multiband Polarimetric Imaging of HR 4796A with the Gemini Planet Imager
• Is there more than meets the eye? Presence and role of submicron grains in debris discs
• Lack of other molecules in CO-rich debris discs: is it primordial or secondary gas?
• Gaia Data Release 3: Exploring and mapping the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm
• Characterizing the morphology of the debris disk around the low-mass star GSC~07396-00759
• Discovery of an Edge-on Circumstellar Debris Disk Around BD+45${}^{\circ }$598: a Newly Identifed Member of the $\beta$ Pictoris Moving Group
• Revealing asymmetrical dust distribution in the inner regions of HD 141569
• A Deep Polarimetric Study of the Asymmetrical Debris Disk HD 106906

Cited by in corpus (11)

• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) II. The radial structure of debris discs
• A re-investigation of debris disc halos
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS): VI. Asymmetries and offsets
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) V: Comparison between scattered light and thermal emission
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) IV: CO gas imaging and overview
• Characterization of debris disks observed with SPHERE
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) VII: Optically thick gas with broad CO gaussian local line profiles in the HD 121617 disc
• The ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) VIII: A dust arc and non-Keplerian gas kinematics in HD 121617
• The first scattered light images of HD 112810, a faint debris disk in the Sco-Cen association
• The early Universe with JWST and ALMA
• The Disks In Scorpius-Centaurus Survey (DISCS) I: Four Newly-Resolved Debris Disks in Polarized Intensity Light