Planet perturbations are often invoked as a potential explanation for many
spatial structures that have been imaged in debris discs. So far this issue has
been mostly investigated with collisionless N-body numerical models. We
numerically investigate how the coupled effect of collisions and radiation
pressure can affect the formation and survival of radial and azimutal
structures in a disc perturbed by a planet. We consider two set-ups: a planet
embedded within an extended disc and a planet exterior to an inner debris ring.
We use the DyCoSS code of Thebault(2012) and derive synthetic images of the
system in scattered light. The planet's mass and orbit, as well as the disc's
collisional activity are explored as free parameters.
We find that collisions always significantly damp planet-induced structures.
For the case of an embedded planet, the planet's signature, mostly a density
gap around its radial position, should remain detectable in head-on images if
M_planet > M_Saturn. If the system is seen edge-on, however, inferring the
presence of the planet is much more difficult, although some planet-induced
signatures might be observable under favourable conditions.
For the inner-ring/external-planet case, planetary perturbations cannot
prevent collision-produced small fragments from populating the regions beyond
the ring: The radial luminosity profile exterior to the ring is close to the
one it should have in the absence of the planet. However, a Jovian planet on a
circular orbit leaves precessing azimutal structures that can be used to
indirectly infer its presence. For a planet on an eccentric orbit, the ring is
elliptic and the pericentre glow effect is visible despite of collisions and
radiation pressure, but detecting such features in real discs is not an
unambiguous indicator of the presence of an outer planet.Comment: Accepted for Publication in A&A (NOTE: Abridged abstract and
(very)LowRes Figures. Better version, with High Res figures and full abstract
can be found at http://lesia.obspm.fr/perso/philippe-thebault/planpapph.pdf