Alma Observations of the Debris Disk of Solar Analog Τ Ceti

MacGregor, Meredith A.; Lawler, Samantha; Wilner, David J.; Matthews, Brenda C.; Kennedy, Grant M.; Booth, Mark; Francesco, James Di

doi:10.3847/0004-637x/828/2/113

Cited by 57 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The analyses of radial-velocity data have not reached a consensus, but the two outer planets (the planets e and f) near its habitable zone are consistent between analyses. 37,38 A debris disk has been detected with far-infrared and radio observations, [39][40][41] with an inner edge at ∼6 AU, an outer edge at ∼50 AU, and an inclination of ∼35 deg. The knowledge motivates us to consider the following in the data challenge for τ Ceti.…”

Section: Astrophysical and Observational Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starshade exoplanet data challenge

Damiano

et al. 2021

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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Starshade in formation flight with a space telescope is a rapidly maturing technology that would enable imaging and spectral characterization of small planets orbiting nearby stars in the not-too-distant future. While performance models of starshade-assisted exoplanet imaging have been developed and used to design future missions, their results have not been verified from the analyses of synthetic images. Following a rich history of using community data challenges to evaluate image-processing capabilities in astronomy and exoplanet fields, the Starshade Technology Development to TRL5 (S5), a focused technology development activity managed by the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program, is organizing and implementing a starshade exoplanet data challenge. The purpose of the data challenge is to validate the flow down of requirements from science to key instrument performance parameters and to quantify the required accuracy of noisy background calibration with synthetic images. This data challenge distinguishes itself from past efforts in the exoplanet field in that (1) it focuses on the detection and spectral characterization of small planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars, and (2) it develops synthetic images that simultaneously include multiple background noise terms-some observations specific to starshade-including residual starlight, solar glint, exozodiacal light, detector noise, as well as variability resulting from starshade's motion and telescope jitter. We provide an overview of the design and rationale of the data challenge. Working with data challenge participants, we expect to achieve improved understanding of the noise budget and background calibration in starshade-assisted exoplanet observations in the context of both starshade rendezvous with Roman and Habitable Exoplanet Observatory. This activity will thus help NASA prioritize further technology developments and prepare the science community for analyzing starshade exoplanet observations. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Section: Astrophysical and Observational Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starshade exoplanet data challenge

Damiano

et al. 2021

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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“…Cold debris disks around main sequence stars (e.g., Greaves et al 2004;Di Folco et al 2007; Lestrade et al 2012;Chavez-Dagostino et al 2016;MacGregor et al 2016) are left-over planetesimals that could not agglomerate into larger bodies during the process of planet formation. In these disks, dust grains are continuously replenished by dust particles resulting from grinding-down of larger planetesimals in destructive collisions (the so-called collisional cascade; Wyatt et al 2007a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ALMA Discovery of Dust Belts around Proxima Centauri

Anglada

Amado

Ortiz

et al. 2017

ApJL

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Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun, is known to host at least one terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit. Here we report the ALMA detection of the star at 1.3 mm wavelength and the discovery of a belt of dust orbiting around it at distances ranging between 1 and 4 au, approximately. Given the low luminosity of the Proxima Centauri star, we estimate a characteristic temperature of about 40 K for this dust, which might constitute the dust component of a small-scale analog to our solar system Kuiper belt. The estimated total mass, including dust and bodies up to 50 km in size, is of the order of 0.01 Earth masses, which is similar to that of the solar Kuiper belt. Our data also show a hint of warmer dust closer to the star. We also find signs of two additional features that might be associated with the Proxima Centauri system, which, however, still require further observations to be confirmed: an outer extremely cold (about 10 K) belt around the star at about 30 au, whose orbital plane is tilted about 45 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky; and additionally, we marginally detect a compact 1.3 mm emission source at a projected distance of about 1.2 arcsec from the star, whose nature is still unknown.

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“…About a hundred debris disks have been spatially resolved to date, mostly in thermal emission at 70-160μm with the Herschel Space Observatory (e.g., Booth et al 2013;Eiroa et al 2013;Matthews et al 2014;Morales et al 2016;Vican et al 2016) or at submillimeter/millimeter wavelengths with JCMT (Holland et al 2017) and ALMA (e.g., MacGregor et al 2013, 2016aSu et al 2017). Using the measured radii of a sample of Herschel-resolved disks, Pawellek et al (2014) interestingly showed that the typical grain size in these disks does not directly scale with the radiative pressure blowout particle size, but decreases with stellar luminosity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HD 104860 and HD 192758: Two Debris Disks Newly Imaged in Scattered Light with the Hubble Space Telescope

Choquet

Bryden

Perrin

et al. 2018

ApJ

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We present the first scattered-light images of two debris disks around the F8 star HD104860 and the F0V star HD192758, respectively ∼45 and ∼67pc away. We detected these systems in the F110W and F160W filters through our reanalysis of archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) NICMOS data with modern starlight-subtraction techniques. Our image of HD104860 confirms the morphology previously observed by Herschel in thermal emission with a well-defined ring at a radius of ∼114au inclined by ∼58°. Although the outer edge profile is consistent with dynamical evolution models, the sharp inner edge suggests sculpting by unseen perturbers. Our images of HD192758 reveal a disk at radius ∼95au inclined by ∼59°, never resolved so far. These disks have low scattering albedos of 10% and 13%, respectively, inconsistent with water ice grain compositions. They are reminiscent of several other disks with similar inclination and scattering albedos: Fomalhaut, HD92945, HD202628, and HD207129. They are also very distinct from brighter disks in the same inclination bin, which point to different compositions between these two populations. Varying scattering albedo values can be explained by different grain porosities, chemical compositions, or grain size distributions, which may indicate distinct formation mechanisms or dynamical processes at work in these systems. Finally, these faint disks with large infrared excesses may be representative of an underlying population of systems with low albedo values. Searches with more sensitive instruments on HST or on the James Webb Space Telescope and using state-of-the art starlightsubtraction methods may help discover more of such faint systems.

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Alma Observations of the Debris Disk of Solar Analog Τ Ceti

Cited by 57 publications

References 32 publications

Starshade exoplanet data challenge

Starshade exoplanet data challenge

ALMA Discovery of Dust Belts around Proxima Centauri

HD 104860 and HD 192758: Two Debris Disks Newly Imaged in Scattered Light with the Hubble Space Telescope

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