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Main Authors: Fox, Chris, Wiegert, Paul
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01387
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author Fox, Chris
Wiegert, Paul
author_facet Fox, Chris
Wiegert, Paul
contents The debris disk around HD 181327 shows a significant asymmetry in its surface brightness profile when viewed in visible light. Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope STIS instrument show an arc of approximately 90 degrees of higher optical depth at a distance of 84 au from the star. We find that a 2-5 Jupiter-mass planet on a circular orbit at 62 au can produce and maintain a similar feature if the collisional lifetime of dust in the disk is at least 25 kiloyears, and smaller mass planets can produce similar results on longer timescales. We also find that the surface brightness asymmetry is much less pronounced at larger particle sizes, which may account for the fact that observations of HD181327 at longer wavelengths have not reported such an arc. We predict that if a planet is producing the arc in question, the planet is along the line joining the star to the feature, and make some estimates of its observability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_01387
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Planet as the Possible Cause of the HD 181327 Debris Disk Asymmetry
Fox, Chris
Wiegert, Paul
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The debris disk around HD 181327 shows a significant asymmetry in its surface brightness profile when viewed in visible light. Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope STIS instrument show an arc of approximately 90 degrees of higher optical depth at a distance of 84 au from the star. We find that a 2-5 Jupiter-mass planet on a circular orbit at 62 au can produce and maintain a similar feature if the collisional lifetime of dust in the disk is at least 25 kiloyears, and smaller mass planets can produce similar results on longer timescales. We also find that the surface brightness asymmetry is much less pronounced at larger particle sizes, which may account for the fact that observations of HD181327 at longer wavelengths have not reported such an arc. We predict that if a planet is producing the arc in question, the planet is along the line joining the star to the feature, and make some estimates of its observability.
title A Planet as the Possible Cause of the HD 181327 Debris Disk Asymmetry
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01387