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23 April 2024 |
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Article overview
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Millimeter Emission Structure in the first ALMA Image of the AU Mic Debris Disk | | Meredith A. MacGregor
; David J. Wilner
; Katherine A. Rosenfeld
; Sean M. Andrews
; Brenda Matthews
; A. Meredith Hughes
; Mark Booth
; Eugene Chiang
; James R. Graham
; Paul Kalas
; Grant Kennedy
; Bruce Sibthorpe
; | | Date: |
21 Nov 2012 | | Abstract: | We present 1.3 millimeter ALMA Cycle 0 observations of the edge-on debris
disk around the nearby, ~10 Myr-old, M-type star AU Mic. These observations
obtain 0.6 arcsec (6 AU) resolution and reveal two distinct emission
components: (1) the previously known dust belt that extends to a radius of 40
AU, and (2) a newly recognized central peak that remains unresolved. The cold
dust belt of mass about 1 lunar mass is resolved in the radial direction with a
rising emission profile that peaks sharply at the location of the outer edge of
the "birth ring" of planetesimals hypothesized to explain the midplane
scattered light gradients. No significant asymmetries are discerned in the
structure or position of this dust belt. The central peak identified in the
ALMA image is ~6 times brighter than the stellar photosphere, which indicates
an additional emission process in the inner regions of the system. Emission
from a stellar corona or activity may contribute, but the observations show no
signs of temporal variations characteristic of radio-wave flares. We suggest
that this central component may be dominated by dust emission from an inner
planetesimal belt of mass about 0.01 lunar mass, consistent with a lack of
emission shortward of 25 microns and a location <3 AU from the star. Future
millimeter observations can test this assertion, as an inner dust belt should
be readily separated from the central star at higher angular resolution. | | Source: | arXiv, 1211.5148 | | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites | |
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