A peculiar class of debris disks from Herschel/DUNES - A steep fall off in the far infrared
Journal article, 2012

Context. The existence of debris disks around old main sequence stars is usually explained by continuous replenishment of small dust grains through collisions from a reservoir of larger objects. Aims. We present photometric data of debris disks around HIP 103389 (HD199260), HIP 107350 (HNPeg, HD206860), and HIP 114948 (HD219482), obtained in the context of our Herschel open time key program DUNES (DUst around NEarby Stars). Methods. We used Herschel/PACS to detect the thermal emission of the three debris disks with a 3 sigma sensitivity of a few mJy at 100 mu m and 160 mu m. In addition, we obtained Herschel/PACS photometric data at 70 mu m for HIP 103389. These observations are complemented by a large variety of optical to far-infrared photometric data. Two different approaches are applied to reduce the Herschel data to investigate the impact of data reduction on the photometry. We fit analytical models to the available spectral energy distribution (SED) data using the fitting method of simulated thermal annealing as well as a classical grid search method. Results. The SEDs of the three disks potentially exhibit an unusually steep decrease at wavelengths >= 70 mu m. We investigate the significance of the peculiar shape of these SEDs and the impact on models of the disks provided it is real. Using grain compositions that have been applied successfully for modeling of many other debris disks, our modeling reveals that such a steep decrease of the SEDs in the long wavelength regime is inconsistent with a power-law exponent of the grain size distribution -3.5 expected from a standard equilibrium collisional cascade. In contrast, a steep grain size distribution or, alternatively an upper grain size in the range of few tens of micrometers are implied. This suggests that a very distinct range of grain sizes would dominate the thermal emission of such disks. However, we demonstrate that the understanding of the data of faint sources obtained with Herschel is still incomplete and that the significance of our results depends on the version of the data reduction pipeline used. Conclusions. A new mechanism to produce the dust in the presented debris disks, deviations from the conditions required for a standard equilibrium collisional cascade (grain size exponent of -3.5), and/or significantly different dust properties would be necessary to explain the potentially steep SED shape of the three debris disks presented.

main-sequence stars

bolometric corrections

stars

solar neighborhood

circumstellar matter

nearby

dust

effective

spitzer

infrared: planetary systems

circumstellar disk

stars: individual: HIP

temperatures

geneva-copenhagen survey

sun-like stars

stars: individual: HIP 103389

Author

S. Ertel

Grenoble Alpes University

University of Kiel

S. Wolf

University of Kiel

J. P. Marshall

Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)

C. Eiroa

Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)

J. C. Augereau

Grenoble Alpes University

A. Krivov

Friedrich Schiller University Jena

T. Lohne

Friedrich Schiller University Jena

O. Absil

University of Liège

D. R. Ardila

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

M. Arevalo

European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)

A. Bayo

European Space Observatory

G. Bryden

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

C. del Burgo

UNINOVA-CA3

J. S. Greaves

University of St Andrews

G. Kennedy

University of Cambridge

J. Lebreton

Grenoble Alpes University

René Liseau

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics

J. Maldonado

Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)

B. Montesinos

European Space Observatory

A. Mora

European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)

G.L. Pilbratt

European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)

J. Sanz-Forcada

European Space Observatory

K. R. Stapelfeldt

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

G. J. White

Open University

STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 541 A148

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/201118077

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