AU Microscopii and Debris Disks around M Dwarfs

Details AU Microscopii and Debris Disks around M Dwarfs AU Microscopii and Debris Disks around M Dwarfs

Oct 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005nrdd.conf...21l&link_type=abstract

Proceedings of the Miniworkshop on Nearby Resolved Debris Disks. October 19-20, 2005. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimo

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

The vast majority of stars are the low-mass M dwarfs, but these objects have been relatively neglected in debris disk studies. Given their high space densities, M dwarfs may represent the nearest population of debris systems which can be spatially resolved by current and future high angular resolution imaging systems.
AU Mic (GJ 803) was identified as the first M dwarf debris disk from IR and sub-mm photometry and subsequently resolved in scattered-light imaging. By virtue of this star's proximity (10 pc) and youth (~12 Myr), our infrared and sub-millimeter data have excellent sensitivity to the disk's dust content and morphology. Adaptive optics imaging achieves a physical resolution of 0.4 AU, the sharpest images ever obtained of a circumstellar disk. The inner disk of AU Mic is asymmetric and shows multiple indications of substructure, most easily explained by the dynamical influence of unseen larger bodies. In addition, AU Mic and beta Pic are the first known coeval debris disks, and thus we can study the dependence of disk properties on stellar host mass. In particular, our discovery of a common surface brightness profile for both disks provides a window into the structural evolution of young debris disks.
Finally, we discuss the observed paucity of M dwarf debris disks compared to disks around higher mass stars and present preliminary results from a comprehensive search of the solar neighborhood for more nearby M dwarf debris systems like AU Mic.

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