Finding New Debris Discs at Sub-millimetre Wavelengths

Abstract

Debris discs reveal the architectures and dynamical histories of planetary systems. Sub-millimetre observations trace large dust grains within debris discs, revealing their bulk properties. Debris discs have so far only been detected around ~20% of stars, representing the bright end of the population. A new facility is required to reach fainter discs, overcoming the confusion limit, with multiwavelength capabilities for characterisation, sensitivity to large-scale emission for nearby targets and a large field of view for surveying distant populations. All of this is made possible with the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (AtLAST).

4 pages. This white paper was submitted to ESO Expanding Horizons in support of AtLAST. This white paper summarises the debris disc part of the AtLAST Science: Our Galaxy case study (arXiv:2403.00917)