A peculiar class of debris disks from Herschel/DUNES - A steep fall off in the far infrared
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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
Författare
S. Ertel
Université Grenoble Alpes
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
S. Wolf
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
J. P. Marshall
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)
C. Eiroa
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)
J. C. Augereau
Université Grenoble Alpes
A. Krivov
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
T. Lohne
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
O. Absil
Universite de 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
Université Grenoble Alpes
René Liseau
Chalmers, Rymd- och geovetenskap, Radioastronomi och astrofysik
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 A148Ämneskategorier
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201118077