Extra-Solar Kuiper Belt Dust Disks
arXiv:astro-ph/0703383
Abstract
The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'') present a wide range of sizes, morphologies and properties. It is inferred that their dust mass declines with time as the dust-producing planetesimals get depleted, and that this decline can be punctuated by large spikes that are produced as a result of individual collisional events. The lack of solid state features indicate that, generally, the dust in these disks have sizes larger than approximately 10 microns, but exceptionally, strong silicate features in some disks suggest the presence of large quantities of small grains, thought to be the result of recent collisions. Spatially resolved observations of debris disks show a diversity of structural features, such as inner cavities, warps, offsets, brightness asymmetries, spirals, rings and clumps. There is growing evidence that, in some cases, these structures are the result of the dynamical perturbations of a massive planet. Our Solar System also harbors a debris disk and some of its properties resemble those of extra-solar debris disks. From the cratering record, we can infer that its dust mass has decayed with time, and that there was at least one major ``spike'' in the past during the Late Heavy Bombardment. This offers a unique opportunity to use extra-solar debris disks to shed some light in how the Solar System might have looked in the past. Similarly, our knowledge of the Solar System is influencing our understanding of the types of processes which might be at play in the extra-solar debris disks.
18 pages, 5 figures. Chapter from the book "Kuiper Belt", edited by A. Barucci, H. Boehnhardt, D. Cruikshank and A. Morbidelli. Forthcoming
References in corpus (43)
- Dust Grain Size Distributions and Extinction in the Milky Way, LMC, and SMC
- Circumstellar Dust Disks in Taurus-Auriga: The Submillimeter Perspective
- Dynamical Masses of T Tauri Stars and Calibration of PMS Evolution
- The origin of planetary impactors in the inner solar system
- A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt
- Transience of hot dust around sun-like stars
- A planet on an inclined orbit as an explanation of the warp in the Beta Pictoris disk
- A dust ring around Epsilon Eridani: analogue to the young Solar System
- Evidence for a Long-period Planet Orbiting Epsilon Eridani
- Frequency of Debris Disks around Solar-Type Stars: First Results from a Spitzer/MIPS Survey
- Collisional Processes in Extrasolar Planetsimal Disks - Dust Clumps in Fomalhaut's Debris Disk
- Resonant Trapping of Planetesimals by Planet Migration: Debris Disk Clumps and Vega's Similarity to the Solar System
- The Insignificance of P-R Drag in Detectable Extrasolar Planetesimal Belts
- An Excess Due to Small Grains Around The Nearby K0V Star HD69830: Asteroid or Cometary Debris?
- New Debris Disks Around Nearby Main Sequence Stars: Impact on The Direct Detection of Planets
- HST/ACS Coronagraphic Imaging of the Circumstellar Disk around HD1415659A
- The Geometry of Resonant Signatures in Debris Disks with Planets
- Substructure in the Circumstellar Disk around the Young Star AU Mic (GJ 803)
- Structure in the Epislon Eridani dusty disk caused by mean motion resonances with a 0.3 eccentricity planet at periastron
- Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Upper Limits to the Gas Mass in Disks Around Sun-like Stars
- Prospects for Detection of Catastrophic Collisions in Debris Disks
- A Study of the Dynamics of Dust from the Kuiper Belt: Spatial Distribution and Spectral Energy Distribution
- Planets and IR Excesses: Preliminary Results from a Spitzer/MIPS Survey of Solar-Type Stars
- The Size-Frequency Distribution of the Zodiacal Cloud: Evidence from the Solar System Dust Bands
- Spiral Structure when Setting up Pericentre Glow: Possible Giant Planets at Hundreds of AU in the HD141569 Disk
- A Spitzer Study of Dusty Disks in the Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association
- Dynamical models of Kuiper Belt dust in the inner and outer Solar System
- First scattered light images of debris disks around HD 53143 and HD 139664
- Collisional dust avalanches in debris discs
- Sub-millimeter images of a dusty Kuiper belt around eta Corvi
- The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: First Results from a Spitzer Legacy Science Program
- Spitzer 24 micron Survey of Debris Disks in the Pleiades
- The dust, planetesimals and planets of HD 38529
- The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems (FEPS): Discovery of an Unusual Debris System Associated with HD 12039
- Spitzer observations of the Hyades: Circumstellar debris disks at 625 Myr of age
- New debris disk candidates: 24 micron stellar excesses at 100 Myr
- Spitzer Observations of G Dwarfs in the Pleiades: Circumstellar Debris Disks at 100 Myr Age
- HST-STIS Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy and Coronagraphic Imaging of the TW Hydrae Circumstellar Disk
- Mid-Infrared Spectra of Dust Debris Around Main-Sequence Stars
- Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: Upper Limits the Gas Mass in HD105
- Signatures of Planets in Spatially Unresolved Disks
- Stellar Encounters with the Beta Pictoris Planetesimal System
- Signatures of exosolar planets in dust debris disks