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| Paper: |
Resolved Millimeter Emission Belts in the β Pictoris
and AU Microscopii Debris Disks |
| Volume: |
476, New Trends in Radio Astronomy in the ALMA Era |
| Page: |
165 |
| Authors: |
Wilner, D. J. |
| Abstract: |
Debris disks around young main-sequence stars provide a window into the
planet formation process. Imaging debris disks at millimeter wavelengths
is important because emission at these long wavelengths is dominated
by large grains that trace best the underlying population of dust-producing
planetesimals. I discuss SMA observations that resolve the millimeter
emission surrounding the nearby ∼10 Myr-old stars β Pic and AU Mic.
For these systems, each of which is viewed nearly edge-on, the observations
reveal a belt of millimeter emission surrounding the star with the same
geometry as the more extended disks seen in scattered light.
Simple modeling shows the locations of these millimeter belts are consistent
with reservoirs of planetesimals (“birth rings”) hypothesized to explain
the shape of the midplane scattered light surface brightness profiles.
For AU Mic, we have followed the SMA study with ALMA Cycle 0 observations
that reveal much more detail in the belt of millimeter emission, and also
isolate a previously unknown central emission peak that could come from a
stellar chromosphere, or perhaps a distinct, inner planetesimal belt. |
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