190 research outputs found
Azimuthal asymmetries in the debris disk around HD 61005. A massive collision of planetesimals?
ontext. Debris disks offer valuable insights into the latest stages of circumstellar disk evolution, and can possibly help us to trace the outcomes of planetary formation processes. In the age range 10 to 100 Myr, most of the gas is expected to have been removed from the system, giant planets (if any) must have already been formed, and the formation of terrestrial planets may be on-going. Pluto-sized planetesimals, and their debris released in a collisional cascade, are under their mutual gravitational influence, which may result into non-axisymmetric structures in the debris disk. Aims. High angular resolution observations are required to investigate these effects and constrain the dynamical evolution of debris disks. Furthermore, multi-wavelength observations can provide information about the dust dynamics by probing different grain sizes. Methods. Here we present new VLT/SPHERE and ALMA observations of the debris disk around the 40 Myr-old solar-type star HD 61005. We resolve the disk at unprecedented resolution both in the near-infrared (in scattered and polarized light) and at millimeter wavelengths. We perform a detailed modeling of these observations, including the spectral energy distribution. Results. Thanks to the new observations, we propose a solution for both the radial and azimuthal distribution of the dust grains in the debris disk. We find that the disk has a moderate eccentricity (e ∼ 0.1) and that the dust density is two times larger at the pericenter compared to the apocenter. Conclusions. With no giant planets detected in our observations, we investigate alternative explanations besides planet- disk interactions to interpret the inferred disk morphology. We postulate that the morphology of the disk could be the consequence of a massive collision between ∼ 1000 km-sized bodies at ∼ 61 au. If this interpretation holds, it would put stringent constraints on the formation of massive planetesimals at large distances from the star
Photometric and dynamic evolution of an isolated disc galaxy simulation
We present a detailed analysis of the evolution of a simulated isolated disc
galaxy. The simulation includes stars, gas, star formation and simple chemical
yields. Stellar particles are split in two populations: the old one is present
at the beginning of the simulation and is calibrated according to various ages
and metallicities; the new population borns in the course of the simulation and
inherits the metallicity of the gas particles. The results have been calibrated
in four wavebands with the spectro-photometric evolutionary model GISSEL2000
(Bruzual & Charlot 1993). Dust extinction has also been taken into account. A
rest-frame morphological and bidimensional photometric analysis has been
performed on simulated images, with the same tools as for observations. The
effects of the stellar bar formation and the linked star formation episode on
the global properties of the galaxy (mass and luminosity distribution, colours,
isophotal radii) have been analysed. In particular, we have disentangled the
effects of stellar evolution from dynamic evolution to explain the cause of the
isophotal radii variations. We show that the dynamic properties (e.g. mass) of
the area enclosed by any isophotal radius depends on the waveband and on the
level of star formation activity. It is also shown that the bar isophotes
remain thinner than mass isodensities a long time (> 0.7 Gyr) after the maximum
of star formation rate. We show that bar ellipticity is very wavelength
dependent as suggested by real observations. Effects of dust extinction on
photometric and morphological measurements are systematically quantified.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures (13 in eps, 3 in jpg format). Accepted for
publication in A&
A narrow, edge-on disk resolved around HD 106906 with SPHERE
HD~106906AB is so far the only young binary system around which a planet has
been imaged and a debris disk evidenced thanks to a strong IR excess. As such,
it represents a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of young planetary
systems. We aim at further investigating the close (tens of au scales)
environment of the HD~106906AB system. We used the extreme AO fed, high
contrast imager SPHERE recently installed on the VLT to observe HD~106906. Both
the IRDIS imager and the Integral Field Spectrometer were used. We discovered a
very inclined, ring-like disk at a distance of 65~au from the star. The disk
shows a strong brightness asymmetry with respect to its semi-major axis. It
shows a smooth outer edge, compatible with ejection of small grains by the
stellar radiation pressure. We show furthermore that the planet's projected
position is significantly above the disk's PA. Given the determined disk
inclination, it is not excluded though that the planet could still orbit within
the disk plane if at a large separation (2000--3000 au). We identified several
additional point sources in the SPHERE/IRDIS field-of-view, that appear to be
background objects. We compare this system with other debris disks sharing
similarities, and we briefly discuss the present results in the framework of
dynamical evolution.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
Chemical enrichment and star formation in the Milky Way disk III. Chemodynamical constraints
In this paper, we investigate some chemokinematical properties of the Milky
Way disk, by using a sample composed by 424 late-type dwarfs. We show that the
velocity dispersion of a stellar group correlates with the age of this group,
according to a law proportional to t^0.26, where t is the age of the stellar
group. The temporal evolution of the vertex deviation is considered in detail.
It is shown that the vertex deviation does not seem to depend strongly on the
age of the stellar group. Previous studies in the literature seem to not have
found it due to the use of statistical ages for stellar groups, rather than
individual ages. The possibility to use the orbital parameters of a star to
derive information about its birthplace is investigated, and we show that the
mean galactocentric radius is likely to be the most reliable stellar birthplace
indicator. However, this information cannot be presently used to derive radial
evolutionary constraints, due to an intrinsic bias present in all samples
constructed from nearby stars. An extensive discussion of the secular and
stochastic heating mechanisms commonly invoked to explain the age-velocity
dispersion relation is presented. We suggest that the age-velocity dispersion
relation could reflect the gradual decrease in the turbulent velocity
dispersion from which disk stars form, a suggestion originally made by Tinsley
and Larson (1978) and supported by several more recent disk evolution
calculations. A test to distinguish between the two types of models using
high-redshift galaxies is proposed.Comment: 20 pages, 10 encapsulated postscript figures, LaTeX, uses Astronomy
and Astrophysics macro aa.cls, graphicx package, to be published in Astronomy
and Astrophysics (2004), Also available at:
http://www.astro.iag.usp.br/~macie
A Substellar Companion to Pleiades HII 3441
We find a new substellar companion to the Pleiades member star, Pleiades HII
3441, using the Subaru telescope with adaptive optics. The discovery is made as
part of the high-contrast imaging survey to search for planetary-mass and
substellar companions in the Pleiades and young moving groups. The companion
has a projected separation of 0".49 +/- 0".02 (66 +/- 2 AU) and a mass of 68
+/- 5 M_J based on three observations in the J-, H-, and K_S-band. The spectral
type is estimated to be M7 (~2700 K), and thus no methane absorption is
detected in the H band. Our Pleiades observations result in the detection of
two substellar companions including one previously reported among 20 observed
Pleiades stars, and indicate that the fraction of substellar companions in the
Pleiades is about 10.0 +26.1/-8.8 %. This is consistent with multiplicity
studies of both the Pleiades stars and other open clusters.Comment: Main text (14 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables), and Supplementary data (8
pages, 3 tables). Accepted for Publications of Astronomical Society of Japa
Highly structured disk around the planet host PDS 70 revealed by high-angular resolution observations with ALMA
Post conjunction detection of Pictoris b with VLT/SPHERE
With an orbital distance comparable to that of Saturn in the solar system,
\bpic b is the closest (semi-major axis \,9\,au) exoplanet that has
been imaged to orbit a star. Thus it offers unique opportunities for detailed
studies of its orbital, physical, and atmospheric properties, and of
disk-planet interactions. With the exception of the discovery observations in
2003 with NaCo at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), all following astrometric
measurements relative to \bpic have been obtained in the southwestern part of
the orbit, which severely limits the determination of the planet's orbital
parameters. We aimed at further constraining \bpic b orbital properties using
more data, and, in particular, data taken in the northeastern part of the
orbit.
We used SPHERE at the VLT to precisely monitor the orbital motion of beta
\bpic b since first light of the instrument in 2014. We were able to monitor
the planet until November 2016, when its angular separation became too small
(125 mas, i.e., 1.6\,au) and prevented further detection. We redetected \bpic b
on the northeast side of the disk at a separation of 139\,mas and a PA of
30 in September 2018. The planetary orbit is now well constrained.
With a semi-major axis (sma) of au (1 ), it
definitely excludes previously reported possible long orbital periods, and
excludes \bpic b as the origin of photometric variations that took place in
1981. We also refine the eccentricity and inclination of the planet. From an
instrumental point of view, these data demonstrate that it is possible to
detect, if they exist, young massive Jupiters that orbit at less than 2 au from
a star that is 20 pc away.Comment: accepted by A&
Azimuthal asymmetries in the debris disk around HD 61005:A massive collision of planetesimals?
- …