Inner mean-motion resonances with eccentric planets: A possible origin for exozodiacal dust clouds

High levels of dust have been detected in the immediate vicinity of many stars, both young and old. A promising scenario to explain the presence of this short-lived dust is that these analogues to the Zodiacal cloud (or exozodis) are refilled in situ through cometary activity and sublimation. As the reservoir of comets is not expected to be replenished, the presence of these exozodis in old systems has yet to be adequately explained. It was recently suggested that mean-motion resonances (MMR) with exterior planets on moderately eccentric ($\mathrm{e_p}\gtrsim 0.1$) orbits could scatter planetesimals on to cometary orbits with delays of the order of several 100 Myr. Theoretically, this mechanism is also expected to sustain continuous production of active comets once it has started, potentially over Gyr-timescales. We aim here to investigate the ability of this mechanism to generate scattering on to cometary orbits compatible with the production of an exozodi on long timescales. We combine analytical predictions and complementary numerical N-body simulations to study its characteristics. We show, using order of magnitude estimates, that via this mechanism, low mass discs comparable to the Kuiper Belt could sustain comet scattering at rates compatible with the presence of the exozodis which are detected around Solar-type stars, and on Gyr timescales. We also find that the levels of dust detected around Vega could be sustained via our proposed mechanism if an eccentric Jupiter-like planet were present exterior to the system's cold debris disc.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRA

Dynamique des systèmes exoplanétaires

At least 20% of Main-Sequence stars are known to harbor debris disks analogs to the Kuiper Belt. These disks are proof that the accretion of solids has permitted the formation of at least km-sized bodies. It is thus not surprising that several of these disks are accompanied by planets, which may reveal themselves by setting their dynamical imprints on the spatial structure of debris disks. Therefore, the detection of an eccentric debris disk surrounding Zeta² Ret by the Herschel space telescope provides evidence for the presence of a massive perturber in this system.Zeta² Ret being a mature Gyr-old system, and in that sense, analogous to our own Solar System, it offers a different example of long-term dynamical evolution. This thesis includes a detailed modeling of the structure of the debris disk of Zeta² Ret, which leads to constraints on the mass and orbital characteristics of the putative perturber. This study also reveals that eccentric structures in debris disks can survive on Gyr timescales.Detailed modeling of the structure of debris disks can allow the posterior discovery of hidden planets as is the case for the Fomalhaut system. The eccentric shape of the debris disk observed around this star was first attributed to Fom b, a companion detected near the belt inner-edge, which revealed to be highly eccentric (e~0.6-0.9), and thus very unlikely shaping the belt. This hints at the presence of another massive body in this system, Fom c, which drives the debris disk shape. The resulting planetary system is highly unstable, which involves a recent scattering of Fom b on its current orbit, potentially with the yet undetected Fom c. This scenario is investigated in this thesis and its study reveals that by having resided in inner mean-motion resonance with a Neptune or Saturn-mass belt-shaping eccentric Fom c and therefore have suffered a gradual resonant eccentricity increase on timescales comparable to the age of the system (~440 Myr), Fom b could have been brought close enough to Fom c and suffered a recent scattering event, which, complemented by a secular evolution with Fom c, explains its current orbital configuration. This three-step scenario also implies that significant amounts of material may have been set on extremely eccentric orbits such as this of Fom b through this mechanism, which in return could feed in dust the inner parts of the system. Therefore, this mechanism may also explain the presence of inner dust belts in the Fomalhaut system, but also the discovery a significant population of very bright hot dust belts in systems older than 100 Myr.The planetary systems discovered so far exhibit a great variety of architectures, and our solar system is far from being a generic model. One of the main mechanism that determines a planetary system morphology is planetary migration. The presence of a stellar binary companion - which our solar system is deprived of - is expected to affect planetary migration conditions, and potentially lead to the formation of very different planetary systems. This phenomenon is obviously non-negligible since binary systems represent at least half of stellar systems. At late stages of planetary systems formation, planetary migration may occur as the result of interactions with remaining solid planetesimals and the impact of binarity on this planetesimal-driven migration is explored in this thesis. A stellar binary companion may in fact reverse the tendency for planets in single star systems to migrate inwards, and bring them closer to regions perturbed by the binary companion, where they could not have formed in situ. This may give an explanation for the presence of planets which present signs of outward migration towards a circumstellar companion in the Gamma Cephei and HD 196885 systems.Au moins 20% des étoiles de la séquence principale abritent des disques de débris, analogues à la ceinture de Kuiper. Ces disques sont la preuve que l'accumulation de solides a au moins permis la formation de corps de taille kilométrique. Il n'est donc pas surprenant que plusieurs de ces disques soient accompagnés de planètes, qui, en laissant leur empreinte dynamique sur la structure spatiale de ces disques, révèlent leur présence. Par conséquent, la détection d'un disque de débris excentrique entourant Zeta² Ret par le télescope spatial Herschel indique la présence d'un perturbateur massif dans ce système. Zeta² Ret étant un système mature, âgé de 2-3 Gyr, et en ce sens, analogue à notre propre système solaire, il offre un exemple différent d'évolution dynamique à long terme. Cette thèse comprend une modélisation détaillée de la structure du disque de débris de Zeta² Ret, ce qui conduit à des contraintes sur la masse et l'orbite du perturbateur suspecté. Cette étude révèle également que les structures excentriques dans les disques de débris peuvent survivre sur des échelles de temps Gyr.La modélisation de disques de débris peut permettre la découverte postérieure de planètes comme c'est le cas pour le système de Fomalhaut. La forme excentrique de son disque de débris fut d'abord attribuée à Fom b, un compagnon détecté près du bord interne du disque, mais qui se révèle finalement trop excentrique (e~0.6-0.9) pour lui donner sa forme, indiquant la présence d'un autre corps massif, Fom c. Le système planétaire qui en résulte est très instable, ce qui implique une diffusion récente de Fom b sur son orbite actuelle, éventuellement par Fom c. L'étude de ce scénario révèle qu'en ayant résidé dans une résonance de moyen-mouvement interne avec une Fom c excentrique et de masse comparable à Neptune ou Saturne, Fom b aurait subi une augmentation progressive de son excentricité sur des périodes comparables à l'âge du système (~440 Myr), ce qui l'aurait amenée assez proche de Fom c pour subir une diffusion récente, qui, complétée par une évolution séculaire avec Fom c, explique sa configuration orbitale actuelle. Ce mécanisme en trois étapes pourrait également avoir généré d'importantes quantités de matériel en orbites très excentriques, ce qui en retour pourrait alimenter en poussière les parties internes du système. Par conséquent, ce mécanisme pourrait aussi expliquer la présence de ceintures de poussières internes dans le système de Fomalhaut, mais aussi la découverte d'une importante population de ceintures de poussières chaudes et massives dans les systèmes âgés de plus de 100 Myr.Les systèmes planétaires découverts jusqu'ici présentent une grande variété d'architectures, et notre système solaire est loin d'être un modèle générique. Un des principaux mécanismes déterminant la morphologie d'un système planétaire est la migration planétaire. On attend d'un compagnon stellaire - ce que notre système solaire ne possède pas - qu'il affecte les conditions de migration planétaire, et conduise potentiellement à la formation de systèmes planétaires très différents. Ce phénomène est évidemment non négligeable puisque les systèmes binaires représentent au moins la moitié des systèmes stellaires. Dans les systèmes planétaires matures, la migration planétaire peut se produire suite à l'interaction avec le matériel solide et l'impact de la binarité sur cette migration tardive est exploré dans cette thèse. Un compagnon circumstellaire pourrait inverser la tendance à la migration interne des planètes dans les systèmes stellaires simples, et rapprocher ces planètes des régions perturbées par le compagnon binaire, où elles ne pourraient pas s'être formées in situ. Cela pourrait fournir une explication à la présence de planètes qui présentent des signes de migration externe vers un compagnon circumstellaire dans les systèmes de Gamma Cephei et HD 196885

Insights on the dynamical history of the Fomalhaut system - Investigating the Fom c hypothesis

The eccentric shape of the debris disk observed around Fomalhaut was first attributed to Fom b, a companion detected near the belt inner-edge, but new constraints on its orbit revealed that it is belt-crossing, highly eccentric $(e \sim 0.6-0.9)$, and can hardly account for the shape of the belt. The best scenario to explain this paradox is that there is another massive body in this system, Fom c, which drives the debris disk shape. The resulting planetary system is highly unstable, which hints at a dynamical scenario involving a recent scattering of Fom b on its current orbit, potentially with the putative Fom c. Our goal is to give insights on the probability for Fom b to have been set on its highly eccentric orbit by a close-encounter with the putative Fom c. We aim to study in particular the part played by mean-motion resonances with Fom c, which could have brought Fom b sufficiently close to Fom c for it to be scattered on its current orbit, but also delay this scattering event. Using N-body simulations, we found that the generation of orbits similar to that of Fom b, either in term of dimensions or orientation, is a robust process involving a scattering event and a further secular evolution of inner material with an eccentric massive body such as the putative Fom c. We found in particular that mean-motion resonances can delay scattering events, and thus the production of Fom b-like orbits, on timescales comparable to the age of the system, thus explaining the witnessing of an unstable configuration. We conclude that Fom b probably originated from an inner resonance with Fom c, which is at least Neptune-Saturn size, and was set on its current orbit by a scattering event with Fom c. Since Fom b could not have formed from material in resonance, our scenario also hints at former migration processes in this planetary system

An independent determination of Fomalhaut b's orbit and the dynamical effects on the outer dust belt

The nearby star Fomalhaut harbours a cold, moderately eccentric dust belt with a sharp inner edge near 133 au. A low-mass, common proper motion companion (Fom b), was discovered near the inner edge and was identified as a planet candidate that could account for the belt morphology. However, the most recent orbit determination based on four epochs of astrometry over eight years reveals a highly eccentric orbit that appears to cross the belt in the sky plane projection. We perform here a full orbital determination based on the available astrometric data to independently validate the orbit estimates previously presented. Adopting our values for the orbital elements and their associated uncertainties, we then study the dynamical interaction between the planet and the dust ring, to check whether the proposed disk sculpting scenario by Fom b is plausible. We used a dedicated MCMC code to derive the statistical distributions of the orbital elements of Fom b. Then we used symplectic N-body integration to investigate the dynamics of the dust belt, as perturbed by a single planet. Different attempts were made assuming different masses for Fom b. We also performed a semi-analytical study to explain our results. Our results are in good agreement with others regarding the orbit of Fom b. We find that the orbit is highly eccentric, is close to apsidally aligned with the belt, and has a moderate mutual inclination relative to the belt plane of. If coplanar, this orbit crosses the disk. Our dynamical study then reveals that the observed planet could sculpt a transient belt configuration with a similar eccentricity to what is observed, but it would not be simultaneously apsidally aligned with the planet. This transient configuration only occurs a short time after the planet is placed on such an orbit (assuming an initially circular disk), a time that is inversely proportional to the planet's mass, and that is in any case much less than the 440 Myr age of the star. We constrain how long the observed dust belt could have survived with Fom b on its current orbit, as a function of its possible mass. This analysis leads us to conclude that Fom b is likely to have low mass, that it is unlikely to be responsible for the sculpting of the belt, and that it supports the hypothesis of a more massive, less eccentric planet companion Fom c.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy \& Astrophysic

Fomalhaut b could be massive and sculpting the narrow, eccentric debris disc, if in mean-motion resonance with it

The star Fomalhaut hosts a narrow, eccentric debris disc, plus a highly eccentric companion Fomalhaut b. It is often argued that Fomalhaut b cannot have significant mass, otherwise it would quickly perturb the disc. We show that material in internal mean-motion resonances with a massive, coplanar Fomalhaut b would actually be long-term stable, and occupy orbits similar to the observed debris. Furthermore, millimetre dust released in collisions between resonant bodies could reproduce the width, shape and orientation of the observed disc. We first re-examine the possible orbits of Fomalhaut b, assuming that it moves under gravity alone. If Fomalhaut b orbits close to the disc midplane then its orbit crosses the disc, and the two are apsidally aligned. This alignment may hint at an ongoing dynamical interaction. Using the observationally allowed orbits, we then model the interaction between a massive Fomalhaut b and debris. Whilst most debris is unstable in such an extreme configuration, we identify several resonant populations that remain stable for the stellar lifetime, despite crossing the orbit of Fomalhaut b. This debris occupies low-eccentricity orbits similar to the observed debris ring. These resonant bodies would have a clumpy distribution, but dust released in collisions between them would form a narrow, relatively smooth ring similar to observations. We show that if Fomalhaut b has a mass between those of Earth and Jupiter then, far from removing the observed debris, it could actually be sculpting it through resonant interactions.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Determining the Shape, Size, and Sources of the Zodiacal Dust Cloud using Polarized Ultraviolet Scattered Sunlight

The solar system's Zodiacal Cloud is visible to the unaided eye, yet the origin of its constituent dust particles is not well understood, with a wide range of proposed divisions between sources in the asteroid belt and Jupiter Family comets. The amount of dust contributed by Oort Cloud comets is uncertain. Knowledge of the Zodiacal Cloud's structure and origins would help with NASA's aim of characterizing potentially Earth-like planets around nearby stars, since the exo-Earths must be studied against the light scattered from extrasolar analogs of our cloud. As the only example where the parent bodies can be tracked, our own cloud is critical for learning how planetary system architecture governs the interplanetary dust's distribution. Our cloud has been relatively little-studied in the near-ultraviolet, a wavelength range that is important for identifying potentially-habitable planets since it contains the broad Hartley absorption band of ozone. We show through radiative transfer modeling that our cloud's shape and size at near-UV wavelengths can be measured from Earth orbit by mapping the zodiacal light's flux and linear polarization across the sky. We quantify how well the cloud's geometric and optical properties can be retrieved from a set of simulated disk observations, using a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis. The results demonstrate that observations with sufficient precision, covering a set of fields distributed along the ecliptic and up to the poles, can be used to determine the division between asteroidal, Jupiter Family, and Oort Cloud dust components, primarily via their differing orbital inclination distributions. We find that the observations must be repeated over a time span of several months in order to disentangle the zodiacal light from the Galactic background using the Milky Way's rotation across the sky.Comment: submitted to PAS

Inner edges of planetesimal belts: collisionally eroded or truncated?

The radial structure of debris discs can encode important information about their dynamical and collisional history. In this paper we present a 3-phase analytical model to analyse the collisional evolution of solids in debris discs, focusing on their joint radial and temporal dependence. Consistent with previous models, we find that as the largest planetesimals reach collisional equilibrium in the inner regions, the surface density of dust and solids becomes proportional to $\sim r^{2}$ within a certain critical radius. We present simple equations to estimate the critical radius and surface density of dust as a function of the maximum planetesimal size and initial surface density in solids (and vice versa). We apply this model to ALMA observations of 7 wide debris discs. We use both parametric and non-parametric modelling to test if their inner edges are shallow and consistent with collisional evolution. We find that 4 out of 7 have inner edges consistent with collisional evolution. Three of these would require small maximum planetesimal sizes below 10 km, with HR 8799's disc potentially lacking solids larger than a few centimeters. The remaining systems have inner edges that are much sharper, which requires maximum planetesimal sizes $\gtrsim10$ km. Their sharp inner edges suggest they could have been truncated by planets, which JWST could detect. In the context of our model, we find that the 7 discs require surface densities below a Minimum Mass Solar Nebula, avoiding the so-called disc mass problem. Finally, during the modelling of HD 107146 we discover that its wide gap is split into two narrower ones, which could be due to two low-mass planets formed within the disc.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 21 pages, 11 figure

The clumpy structure of ϵ\epsilon Eridani's debris disc revisited by ALMA

$\epsilon$ Eridani is the closest star to our Sun known to host a debris disc. Prior observations in the (sub-)millimetre regime have potentially detected clumpy structure in the disc and attributed this to interactions with an (as yet) undetected planet. However, the prior observations were unable to distinguish between structure in the disc and background confusion. Here we present the first ALMA image of the entire disc, which has a resolution of 1.6"$\times$1.2". We clearly detect the star, the main belt and two point sources. The resolution and sensitivity of this data allow us to clearly distinguish background galaxies (that show up as point sources) from the disc emission. We show that the two point sources are consistent with background galaxies. After taking account of these, we find that resolved residuals are still present in the main belt, including two clumps with a $>3\sigma$ significance -- one to the east of the star and the other to the northwest. We perform $n$-body simulations to demonstrate that a migrating planet can form structures similar to those observed by trapping planetesimals in resonances. We find that the observed features can be reproduced by a migrating planet trapping planetesimals in the 2:1 mean motion resonance and the symmetry of the most prominent clumps means that the planet should have a position angle of either ${\sim10^\circ}$ or ${\sim190^\circ}$. Observations over multiple epochs are necessary to test whether the observed features rotate around the star.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA