Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Krivov, Alexander V
• Müller, Sebastian
• Löhne, Torsten
• Mutschke, Harald

Titel

Collisional and Thermal Emission Models of Debris Disks: Toward Planetesimal Population Properties

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2008-11, Vol.687 (1), p.608-622

Ort / Verlag

Chicago, IL: IOP Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2008

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Debris disks around main-sequence stars are believed to derive from planetesimal populations that have accreted at early epochs and survived possible planet formation processes. While debris disks must contain solids in a broad range of sizes-from big planetesimals down to tiny dust grains- debris disk observations are only sensitive to the dust end of the size distribution. Collisional models of debris disks are needed to 'climb up' the ladder of the collisional cascade, from dust toward parent bodies, representing the main mass reservoir of the disks. We have used our collisional code to generate five disks around a Sun-like star, assuming planetesimal belts at 3, 10, 30, 100, and [image] with 10 times the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt mass density, and to evolve them for 10 Gyr. Along with an appropriate scaling rule, this effectively yields a three-parametric set of reference disks (initial mass, location of planetesimal belt, and age). For all the disks, we have generated spectral energy distributions (SEDs), assuming homogeneous spherical astrosilicate dust grains. A comparison between generated and actually observed SEDs yields estimates of planetesimal properties (location, total mass, etc.). As a test and a first application of this approach, we have selected five disks around Sun-like stars with well- known SEDs. In four cases, we have reproduced the data with a linear combination of two disks from the grid (an 'asteroid belt' at [image] and an outer 'Kuiper Belt'); in one case a single, outer component was sufficient. The outer components are compatible with 'large Kuiper Belts' of 0.2-50 Earth masses (in bodies up to [image] in size) with radii of [image].