Mid-infrared resolution of a 3 AUえーゆー radius debris disk around ζぜーた Leporis

MM Moerchen, CM Telesco, C Packham… - The Astrophysical …, 2007 - iopscience.iop.org
The Astrophysical Journal, 2007iopscience.iop.org
We present subarcsecond-resolution mid-infrared images of the debris disk surrounding the
230 Myr old A star ζぜーた Lep. Our data obtained with T-ReCS at Gemini South show the source
to be unresolved at 10.4 μみゅーm but clearly extended at 18.3 μみゅーm. Quadratic subtraction of the
PSF profile from that of ζぜーた Lep implies a characteristic radius for the dust disk of 3 AUえーゆー, which is
comparable in size to our solar system's asteroid belt. Simple models suggest that the 18 μみゅーm
flux is well approximated by two contiguous annuli of mid-infrared-emitting dust from 2-4 and …
Abstract
We present subarcsecond-resolution mid-infrared images of the debris disk surrounding the 230 Myr old A star ζぜーた Lep. Our data obtained with T-ReCS at Gemini South show the source to be unresolved at 10.4 μみゅーm but clearly extended at 18.3 μみゅーm. Quadratic subtraction of the PSF profile from that of ζぜーた Lep implies a characteristic radius for the dust disk of 3 AUえーゆー, which is comparable in size to our solar system's asteroid belt. Simple models suggest that the 18 μみゅーm flux is well approximated by two contiguous annuli of mid-infrared-emitting dust from 2-4 and 4-8 AUえーゆー with a 3: 1 flux ratio for the annuli, respectively. We consider two scenarios for the collisions that must be resupplying the dust population:(1) continuous" steady state" grinding of planetesimals and (2) an isolated cataclysmic collision. We determine that radiation pressure and subsequent collisions are the dominant determinants of the disk morphology in either case and that Poynting-Robertson drag is comparatively insignificant.
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