Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Inner (<10 AU) Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration

Details Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Inner (<10 AU) Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration Probing for Exoplanets Hiding in Dusty Debris Disks: Inner (<10 AU) Disk Imaging, Characterization, and Exploration

Jan 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21733902s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #339.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We are obtaining HST/STIS observations of a well-selected sample of eleven circumstellar (CS) debris disks, all with HST pedigree, using PSF-subtracted multi-roll coronagraphic imaging. Our observations are probing the interior CS regions of these debris systems (inner working distances < approximately 8 AU for half the sample), corresponding to the giant planet and Kuiper belt regions within our own solar system. These images will enable us to: (a) directly inter-compare the architectures of these exoplanetary debris systems in the context of our own Solar System, (b) characterize the material in these regions at high spatial resolution and, (c) look for sub-structures within the disks that are sign posts of planetary formation and evolution; in particular, asymmetries and non-uniform debris structures signaling the presence of co-orbiting perturbing planets. All of our objects were previously observed at longer wavelengths (with lower spatial resolution and imaging efficacy) with NICMOS, but with an inner working angle comparable to STIS multi-roll coronagraphy. The combination of new optical and existing near-IR imaging will strongly constrain the dust properties enabling an assessment of grain processing and planetesimal populations. These results will directly inform upon the posited planet formation mechanisms that occur after the approximately 10 My epoch of gas depletion (a time in our solar system when giant planets were migrating and the terrestrial planets were forming) and directly test theoretical models of these processes. The outer reaches (only) of most of these systems were previously observed with a much larger ( 6x on average), spatially limiting, effective inner working angle of the ACS coronagraph and do not reveal the inner structures of these CS disks. Our investigation will uniquely probe into the interior regions of these systems for the first time with spatial resolution comparable to ACS and with augmenting NICMOS near-IR disk photometry in hand.

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