A radially broad collisional cascade in the debris disk of $γ$ Ophiuchi observed by JWST
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866911695498117120 |
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| author | Han, Yinuo Wyatt, Mark Su, Kate Y. L. Sefilian, Antranik A. Lovell, Joshua B. del Burgo, Carlos Marshall, Jonathan P. Marino, Sebastian Wilner, David J. Matthews, Brenda C. Sommer, Max Hughes, A. Meredith Carpenter, John M. MacGregor, Meredith A. Pawellek, Nicole Henning, Thomas |
| author_facet | Han, Yinuo Wyatt, Mark Su, Kate Y. L. Sefilian, Antranik A. Lovell, Joshua B. del Burgo, Carlos Marshall, Jonathan P. Marino, Sebastian Wilner, David J. Matthews, Brenda C. Sommer, Max Hughes, A. Meredith Carpenter, John M. MacGregor, Meredith A. Pawellek, Nicole Henning, Thomas |
| contents | The A1V star $γ$ Oph, at a distance of 29.7 pc, is known from Spitzer imaging to host a debris disk with a large radial extent and from its spectral energy distribution to host inner warm dust. We imaged $γ$ Oph with JWST/MIRI at 15 and 25.5 $μ$m, revealing smooth and radially broad emission that extends to a radius of at least 250 au at 25.5 $μ$m. In contrast to JWST findings of an inner small-grain component with distinct ringed structures in Fomalhaut and Vega, the mid-infrared radial profile combined with prior ALMA imaging suggests a radially broad steady-state collisional cascade with the same grain size distribution throughout the disk. This further suggests that the system is populated by a radially broad planetesimal belt from tens of au or less to well over 200 au, rather than a narrow planetesimal belt from which the observed dust is displaced to appear broad. The disk is also found to be asymmetric, which could be modelled by a stellocentric offset corresponding to a small eccentricity of $\sim$0.03. Such a disk eccentricity could be induced by a mildly eccentric $<10\,M_\mathrm{Jup}$ giant planet outside 10 au, or a more eccentric companion up to stellar mass at a few au, without producing a resolvable radial gap in the disk. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_15285 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A radially broad collisional cascade in the debris disk of $γ$ Ophiuchi observed by JWST Han, Yinuo Wyatt, Mark Su, Kate Y. L. Sefilian, Antranik A. Lovell, Joshua B. del Burgo, Carlos Marshall, Jonathan P. Marino, Sebastian Wilner, David J. Matthews, Brenda C. Sommer, Max Hughes, A. Meredith Carpenter, John M. MacGregor, Meredith A. Pawellek, Nicole Henning, Thomas Earth and Planetary Astrophysics The A1V star $γ$ Oph, at a distance of 29.7 pc, is known from Spitzer imaging to host a debris disk with a large radial extent and from its spectral energy distribution to host inner warm dust. We imaged $γ$ Oph with JWST/MIRI at 15 and 25.5 $μ$m, revealing smooth and radially broad emission that extends to a radius of at least 250 au at 25.5 $μ$m. In contrast to JWST findings of an inner small-grain component with distinct ringed structures in Fomalhaut and Vega, the mid-infrared radial profile combined with prior ALMA imaging suggests a radially broad steady-state collisional cascade with the same grain size distribution throughout the disk. This further suggests that the system is populated by a radially broad planetesimal belt from tens of au or less to well over 200 au, rather than a narrow planetesimal belt from which the observed dust is displaced to appear broad. The disk is also found to be asymmetric, which could be modelled by a stellocentric offset corresponding to a small eccentricity of $\sim$0.03. Such a disk eccentricity could be induced by a mildly eccentric $<10\,M_\mathrm{Jup}$ giant planet outside 10 au, or a more eccentric companion up to stellar mass at a few au, without producing a resolvable radial gap in the disk. |
| title | A radially broad collisional cascade in the debris disk of $γ$ Ophiuchi observed by JWST |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.15285 |